Doing Good
by Tatiana Ekaterina
Summary: Doing Good follows Leah and Embry, two restless souls still trying to make something of their fate six months following Breaking Dawn. Can you imagine Wolves in Europe? Finally up to describing the dangerous new companions! M for lemons, some language.
1. Chapter 1

**I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works. **

**This is my first fan-fic, hooray! Doing Good is rated M for language, adult situations, (none yet, I know) and a lemon or two? It's certainly possible! Leah and Embry will be taking off on a voyage in more ways than one. Enjoy the trip! Then tell me what you think!**

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

**Chapter 1**- A Farewell to Arms.

Time: 6 months after the end of Breaking Dawn

POV: Leah, pack plural.

Chapter 1- Goodbye.

"_Ah, crap."_

I groaned, and then began to sprit full out, but to no avail. Sam caught up with me just outside the reservation, with Seth, Colin, and Brady trailing behind, in spite of my speed advantage. They had had a head start when my plans with Embry had given me away. I had thought only Embry, Jake, and I were phased. I grumbled for more than one reason. Jacob and Embry sensing a private moment had already returned to human form. The other four were on patrol, but I heard my brother lead Colin and Brady aside, so I didn't have to look into their eyes at least. This was going to be hard enough. I couldn't really voice my thanks, even in my thoughts, but Seth understood me. He knew me better than all of them, except perhaps Sam. Sam stared at me for a long while, without moving.

"_Tell us again why you're leaving?" _Sam begged at me. A low whine escaped his throat, which unbalanced me.

Our first leader was always calmest of all, even before he had assumed his role; unnaturally calm for as long as I'd known him. It was one of the things I liked best about him- in every adversity, my Sam was strong. I lowered my massive head onto my paws and immediately back-tracked.

"_Sorry." _I whispered in my head. A few tears were beginning to slip down my muzzle. I shook them off. My breath sounded more like a pant than ever. Sam continued like he hadn't heard my slip.

"_Don't leave us, Lee-lee."_

I rose up once more. Even as a wolf, I could frown. _"I've asked you not to call me that. I'm not ready to handle it yet. But I will be one day. That's why I have to go."_

"_I don't understand."_

Sam's eyes were huge and anguished. I knew then that my impending departure really was a shock. He never expected me to go through with it. He turned his head away briefly as I thought this. All of a sudden I huffed exasperatedly. I had explained this a hundred times. He could see into my head for crying out loud. All my brothers could. I paused to imagine Sam and Seth together: Brothers. Sam took a step forward this time and shouted in agreement, and Seth, Colin and Brady all seconded his thought at the same time.

"_We'll always be here for you. You're special to this pack!"_

Four loud, enthusiastic voices pounded inside of my brain. _"Ow! Are you trying to give me a headache?" _I moaned.

Four sets of eyes were instantly contrite. Without trying to, they whimpered their apology in unison.

"_We're sorry."_

I eyed my overgrown-obnoxious brothers and smiled in spite of myself. I knew I still hadn't answered Sam's query, but there wasn't much else to say. I contented myself with the greatest truth.

"_It's just time."_

At that moment, we all sensed another presence, and I stepped automatically behind and slightly to the right of the russet wolf, immediately supporting my Alpha. Sam's eyes followed my movements, but he said nothing. Right then another wolf, chocolate fur this time, pounded up to join me on Jacob's left side. Seth moved to stand behind us, causing Jacob to wince uncomfortably. He didn't bother to curtail his expression- he couldn't hide from us. Jacob all but ignored Quil and Seth and turned to look intently at me. I didn't really need to hear the question he voiced in his thoughts._"How you holding up?"_

"_Look at her Jake, dumb question." _It was my idiot of a little brother that spoke up. I growled softly, but Seth didn't react.

"_Where's Embry?" _ Seth wondered. We could tell both Colin and Brady were wondering the same thing. It was Jake again who answered.

"_He still has to put his things together for the trip, and then he has to say his farewells to his Mom. It'll be harder on her than Sue. First, Sue is still the toughest woman I've ever seen," _Jacob smiled appreciatively as he thought of my mother, and I nodded once, "_and two- she'll still have Seth and Charlie- although who knows if that will help?" _Seth chuckled in response. I smiled at Jake's attempt to cheer me up.

Sam turned away from the group. He was not in the mood for jokes. He didn't need to think for us to know not to follow. He took a few more steps, and then turned to look at me. He continued walking slower than he usually did into the trees. I did not move immediately, I simply waited in silence for a long moment with six of my brothers. Then I trotted in the opposite direction, alone, until I was completely obscured from the pack. I phased back into my human form, and a dress fell to the ground from the tie on my leg. As much as I loathed anything frilly, I had to admit one piece was easier than two. I rolled my eyes as I thought of the most quirky member of my new extended family.

"Yes, thank you Alice," I said to myself as I slipped the long sundress over my head. I was grateful for the built-in bra, after all. Finally I sprinted past my brothers to where Sam had hid himself in the opposite clearing. It was more to hide his emotions than his body, I knew. He was waiting for me, human, wearing an old pair of shorts. He came to my side to hug me briefly and looked at my dress.

"Pretty." He commented. I ignored him. I couldn't let him try to convince me anymore.

"I need this Sam. I know you'll all miss me, but you really will survive. Embry and I will be fine, and Jake won't be far- just Ireland. The crises are over. It's peaceful here. Time to move on."

Sam didn't respond. His eyes somehow became sadder. He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened his mouth again, but no sound came out. I found myself wishing we were both wolves again so he wouldn't have to struggle to find the right words, but I also didn't want the others listening in at the moment either. Sam tried again-

"I haven't been fair to you." Sam murmured.

I protested so fast it must have seemed like a reflex to him, but he cut me off.

"Don't let me off the hook. I'm being selfish Leah." He paused. "I've spoken with Bella too you know."

His words completely threw me this time.

"Bella?" I gasped.

Bella Cullen had shockingly become one of my favorite bloodsuckers. Once I had taken the time to know her, of course. It was she who was responsible for my impending travels. She and Sam had a rather rocky history. Rocky, ha. Vampire. Sam spoke more clearly.

"I stopped by her cottage one day when I knew most of the Cullens were out hunting. I figured I'd better try to get to know her beyond what we've seen in Jacob's head. She seemed really pleased at the opportunity. She made me tea, and we talked for quite a long time. She thanked me for finding her in the woods, and I told her I was glad she was finally past all that pain for good. She explained her side of her history with Jake, and I realized how similar it was to you, me, and Emily. She and I were the same. Both desperately in love with someone, and yet refusing to let go of the one who loved us. Nessie freed Bella from that pain. You don't have a Nessie tying you here, it's just me. I haven't let you go and I can't."

His words brought me back to the time when my pack consisted of just three wolves. Jacob had broken off from Sam's pack because he instinctively knew it was right to protect Bella's then-unborn child, despite her potentially dangerous future. Now I often thought his sub consciousness was preparing him for the birth of his future love. Seth had followed Jake because he has a gift for knowing goodness in people. And the Cullens, despite being the same species as our dreadful enemies, were good people. He was friends with them. It took me weeks to admit it, but Seth's faith in the Cullens weighed more than most. At the time, I couldn't fully understand my feelings. I was still overwhelmed by the knowledge that we had gained about separate packs. Still, I'd recognized the same similarities Sam was describing now. But he was being too hard on himself. I wanted to get out of Sam's head and leave him with Emily. She was right for him. I could try to move on. It wasn't that simple of course, but I took what I could get, and Jake and I had gotten closer. He was the new unwilling Alpha, I became his second, and together we worked toward our first shreds of peace. I had seemed further along in our quest. But then Jacob had imprinted on Nessie, and I was the one left in turmoil. I still wouldn't let Sam blame himself.

"Sam, I understand what you're saying. You blame yourself more than I will ever blame you. You say you're holding me here, and you are right for the most part," I had to stop to breathe for the quickest moment to continue. "But you're forgetting my mother and Seth. They _will_ let me go. I'm breaking away from you Sam. I'm not searching for Emily, Nessie, Kim, or Claire- I'm searching for peace. I want to give my life some meaning, and then maybe I won't be such a grouch. The Cullens won't be too far, and Embry- Embry wants the same things. We'll even stay together for some time at least, so we won't become too sane and forget what it's like to hear voices."

Sam finally smiled. "I want you to be happy."

"I can promise you, I will be."

"Good." Sam came over and gave me a hug. I didn't shy away. I was leaving family. I heard two female voices call out then.

"Leah!"

"Sam?"

One voice sounded melodic, like a bell. The other voice was deeper and rougher, but only in comparison.

Sam turned immediately toward the second voice. I walked forward to greet the first and she glided right up to me, faster than even I could move. She was trying to make me jump. She didn't succeed. She smiled anyway.

"Nice dress."

"It really is lovely on you Leah," Emily said appreciatively.

I smiled back at Emily, and glared at Bella. 'You like dresses as much as I do."

"That's why I'm always glad to find others willing to act the part of Alice's life-size dress up doll." Bella grinned. "Emily's right, it does look great on you." She sighed with mock sorrow. "Alice would know, just take a look at what she forced me into!"

"It matches your eyes." Emily noted as she looked at Bella's red-gold dress.

"Thank God." Bella rolled the eyes in question. "I'm so sick of freaking myself out. Soon I'll really look great."

Neither Emily nor I spoke as we looked at Bella's eyes. They were different than most vampires, because the Cullens didn't feed off of human-blood; which turned vampire eyes the traditional red. Bella was still technically a newborn, and thus had a little of her own blood still in her veins from when she was human. But Bella was only days from her first birthday as a vampire, and thus her eyes were continuing to reflect the change. No longer vivid red, around six months ago they had started to turn amber, and now were almost gold, caused by her diet of animal blood. Only the edges were red. Bella was obviously in a good enough mood to let Alice have her way with her.

'You ready to go?" Emily asked me. Sam stood a ways behind her, expressionless; he looked up to hear my answer.

"Yep, all packed. Embry on his way?"

"Very soon, we just saw him." Bella answered me.

I looked at Bella, trying to hold my emotions in. I needed to step away with her.

"Can I talk to you?" I asked her.

Bella knew what was coming. She sighed. She walked with me back toward where my brothers had waited, but when we got there, there was not a wolf in sight.

"I'm sure they've headed back to Emily's." She paused. "What else do I need to tell you Leah, you know you need this."

"Just remind me again why I shouldn't try to stop phasing?"

"Because you deserve more, I've told you. I believe in fate. Whatever is waiting for you in Europe- you need to seize hold of it and run. You've been given a gift, same as me." She paused. "There can be life without romance."

"And how would you know? Everything you are contradicts what you just said."

"I'm talking about you Leah, not me. Besides, remember Carlisle and Esme, and Edward and me. Who says it has to be now? If you stop phasing, you might never even have the chance."

I sighed. "I just hope you're right."

"I'm with everyone else, I hope you'll be happy Leah." She came to hug me.

"Thanks." And we both recoiled at the same time, and laughed, accusing the other-

'You smell!"

*****

Time: Same.

POV: Embry

"_Ah crap," _Leah moaned in her thoughts.

I didn't have to turn my head to know who was coming: the patrol, Sam in the lead. Leah didn't say any more, she just turned and sprinted away from us, obviously trying to avoid the confrontation. Jake and I didn't follow. We returned to our human forms instead. I had goodbyes to make myself, in any case. We didn't speak as we pulled on our pants and walked back to the Res. I felt bad for Leah. I knew her goodbyes would be more painful than mine, and I felt bad for my mother. Who would she have to talk to everyday? Not so bad that I wasn't going though. She still wouldn't tell me which of my brothers my true half-brother was. Was one of my best friends, Jake or Quil, something more? Or was I tall and calm…just like Sam? Jacob suddenly picked up his pace, intent on someone or something I didn't notice. I looked up to see a human and a vampire, standing calmly side by side; Emily and Bella. It still seemed strange sometimes. But then again, Bella was still herself in most respects, and she would never stop caring deeply about La Push. We all knew that. Obviously Jake was hoping Nessie was somewhere nearby. I didn't speed up, so I got to the odd pair a few steps behind Jake. His eyes were unreadable as he looked at Bella. Bella changed focus.

"Where's Sam?" I heard Bella ask Emily as I walked up.

"He just left with Seth, Colin, and Brady—"Emily, began, but Jake cut her off, addressing both women.

"Actually, Sam caught up with Leah just now."

Emily and Bella both took in a sharp breath. Emily spoke first.

"Oh…oh dear." Emily hung her head.

"Goodbyes are difficult, even when we can anticipate them," Bella said soothingly.

Emily didn't respond. Jacob was still unnaturally quiet in Bella's presence, and Bella began to resemble more of a statue, then a person. I would have to tell her, it seemed.

"That's just it Bella. He didn't believe Leah would ever really leave, despite all the planning."

Emily didn't move consciously, not even to lift her head, but her body was angled to follow the love of her life, and her cousin. Jake opened his mouth speak, and Bella unfroze slightly, looking into his eyes.

"For Sam, this will be just like the day you came to tell me goodbye for good. Only Sam ignored all the warnings. He's blind to it."

I shuddered along with Jake. He had unsuccessfully tried to forget the pain from after the fight with the newborns a little over a year ago, so much stronger than the physical pain he was in, despite his right side having been crushed. He didn't want us to suffer as badly…always thinking of us. He really was an Alpha. Bella blanched visibly.

"We should be here when they get back, they'll need us." Bella said.

"Actually I'm not finished myself. I still have too much to do." Internally, I added, _like say my own goodbyes._

I hugged Emily and nodded at Bella and Jake. My thoughts must have been written on my face, because Bella said, "Good Luck." I couldn't answer her. As I walked away I heard Jacob's voice-

"You're right Bella, but I think I need to find her."

Out of the corner of my vision I saw him sprint back toward the trees. I kept walking toward my house. It didn't take me long. As I walked in my mother was waiting for me in our front room. She lifted her head to acknowledge me, but I walked straight to my room and sat down on my too-small bed. I couldn't handle it. Because I knew their minds so well already, I could already imagine what I'd find in Leah and Sam's heads whenever I phased next. I wasn't in love with anyone, but it didn't matter. My mother walked into my room then and I forced myself to look up. I finally noticed all of my bags piled into a corner, awaiting my departure. She must have finished for me.

Our relationship had been strained since January of last year, ever since I phased for the first time and got a hint of who I really was. I had always thought of myself as little bit of a loner. On top of being so reserved, I thought I was a full-blooded Makah. I thought my father had mistreated my mother, so she had found solace with a different tribe, a tribe led by a friendly council of elders. My hands began to shake a little as I thought of how friendly one had been. She'd only left her family behind. I halted the trembling; my mother could not be allowed to see it. On the day I found out I could turn into a wolf, I also discovered the reason why. Everything I'd known for 16 years was wrong. I was half-Makah, half Quiluete, and there was a good chance one of my best friend's fathers was… I couldn't complete the thought. I didn't know my mother at all.

It took this long before my mother said a word.

"I finished packing for you," she began breathlessly, "I still can't help taking care of you…"

"I see. Thank you." I couldn't help my brusqueness. She changed her tone as she came to sit by me. I shifted to look at her.

"I can't change my response Embry, it's more complicated than you can know. I want you to really know your father one day, and I assure you, he always wanted to know you. It's just not the time. And I understand why you need to go."

She looked more solidly into my eyes then. 'I'm so proud of you, following in your ancestors' footsteps, protecting all of us in your _home._"

"What?" I could only stare.

"Your father knew the transformations were always a possibility. He loved me too much to keep it from me. I had to protect that secret, but now that you're not staying with me..." She began to cry as she continued, "you have to know…" I threw my arms around her, no longer afraid of giving myself away, and somehow, it seemed she held me almost as tight as my strength could hold her. She choked out, "We're so proud of you." We broke down then at the exact same moment, and then chuckled together in chagrin when we could catch our breaths. I didn't know what to say. My eyes were bugging out my sockets. I could only respond, "I see, thank you," once again.

**Damn Embry's mom for making me cry! I've got some more planning to do with the story so bear with me please, but next stop… the Cullen clan is bringing a few wolves to Europe??? Sure seems like it. Stay tuned! **


	2. Chapter 2

**I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works. **

Chapter 2- The Slightest Word.

"You move just a finger, say the slightest word, something's bound to linger- Be heard."

- "NoOne is Alone," _Into the Woods_,Stephen Sondheim

Time: 2 days later

POV: Embry

I looked across the aisle at Jacob; Ness sitting awake on his knee with continued envy. She giggled at him. These days, it seemed like imprinting was just another part of being a Were…a shape-shifter. None of us had really stopped calling ourselves Werewolves really, despite what Edward had said. I continued to worry about Leah and I. Not so much about Leah really, because despite what she said, it seemed far more obvious that she was destined for someone or something. With all this fate swirling around us, it was hard to believe her transformation was an accident. I took even more faith from Bella's continued existence. There was a time I believed we were going to have to kill her personally, us Wolves! I looked up the rows at her smiling face. She seemed the perfect vampire, as far as I could tell. Edward was standing in the aisle leaning over her seat with his arm around her, probably unconsciously, and I had to look away. It wasn't simply their connection: Edward's head had turned reflexively as it often did at the sound of his name in any person's thoughts. I wasn't fast enough to hide that it was me. I need Jacob to teach me better. Edward chuckled softly, and then came to take the little seat opposite me. Bella's eyes followed him, but she said nothing. The humans on the plane were asleep, and I bet she was happy that Edward was continuing to reach out to Jake's pack. Edward nodded slightly as I thought this. I was right. He spoke softly,

"I can't help responding to those single people who are surrounded by happy couples... I was the odd one out for almost a century, you know."

There wasn't a point to answering him aloud.

_I know_, I thought. _Does it get any easier at least?_

"Perhaps, but in terms of your particular situation, I do not imagine it would. Not when there is a possibility that the center of your universe could be merely a few seats behind you."

He paused in thought and I couldn't help trying to look back at the rest of the plane- even with the curtains down I turned back. He continued,

"And the fact that almost all of your oldest brothers have located their own center. For me, I never knew I was meant to find her."

He looked adoringly at Bella then, and she noticed. She stared back. _Not helping, Edward, _I thought. He laughed again as Bella got up silently, looking curious, but not even coming close to disturbing any of the other passengers. Luckily, as we were all in First class, (fancier even than Business with the astonishingly huge sleeper seats,) there weren't many full-humans to disturb. Edward shook his head at her and mouthed "It's private" at her. She could hear. She sat immediately.

_Thank you, _I thought, surprised.

"Jacob would also tell you that just because I hear more than you want me to doesn't mean I have to share it."

_Clearly._ _ I appreciate this trip. We needed it. _I looked at my Sister, asleep in the seat in front of mine, but other thoughts quickly intruded. Edward stared as he heard them. He leaned closer in to speak this time.

"Do your brothers and sisters know she knew?"

I just shook my head.

"This isn't my place. I'll go."

I immediately contradicted him. _Please don't. _

My thought surprised both Edward and myself, at first. But I thought I knew where it came from. Edward had lived without biological family for a very long time; someone else missing a part of whom he really was. My subconscious knew where to turn. He interrupted my thinking then-

"It's been a long time since I've had a true connection to my past as a Masen. And yet I know my so called "real" last name, as well as the one I've chosen, my true one." He looked over at the Doctor then, Carlisle, who was reading a book in the front of the plane. "I would feel awfully lost without him. I don't know what it's like to exist without some sort of father or knowledge of my real name."

I didn't know what to say. The flight attendant came over to us then, probably curious as to what so many of her customers were still doing up. Emmett and Rosalie had stayed in Forks, Alice and Jasper were flying separately, Bella and Edward were alert, as was Jake and I. Nessie had succumbed to sleep, and I had barely seen Leah awake since we took off. Carlisle was lost in his book, and Esme had her head back…"asleep." She faked it well. It was intimidating that Vampires never got tired. Edward grinned at me then, but didn't say anything. He looked at the attendant expectantly knowing she was about to speak.

"Can I get you anything? Pillow? Something to drink?"

"No, thank you," I answered awkwardly. It felt odd to use my voice after speaking silently to Edward. She turned and left. Edward waited a moment.

"My family used to forget, sometimes."

I laughed quietly, and then I spoke aloud, in case the attendant was still watching. "I'm glad I'm not the only one." One-sided conversations would look odd.

"Indeed." Edward became more serious then. "Let me know if you need to talk some more. I'm very glad to have you and your brothers as a part of this family. It seems more complete, somehow. I still don't quite understand why. Bella would, more than I."

My expression changed, I didn't know how it looked. _I know what you mean in any case. I don't quite understand why either. It has something to do with Nessie though. Jake needs her, and she needs her whole family. Take one part away, and something is missing for all of us._

"Is that why you're leaving Forks?" Edward wanted to know, "because your feeling of deficiency affects the whole pack? Both packs, really?"

_Only partially. I do want to see Europe, I want a change. They told me I was Embry Call, and then I find out I'm someone else: a Protector, shape-shifter, with a whole history and set of responsibilities on top of it involving magic none of us understand._

My face hardened, I could feel it.

_Then they say they don't know which of them passed this down to me, only at least one of them does know, AND my mother knows about the history. It's a lot to process in my own head- let alone having 16 other opinions, one my half- _I paused. Edward just sat back and waited. _My half-brother. But I really like him, ya know? It's either Quil, Sam, or Jake. At least that's nice._

"They're good guys," Edward agreed. "Did you ever get any kind of sense who it might be?"

"I try not to think about it." I said, out loud. In my head, I continued, _Sometimes I think my instincts go with Sam. But I'm not sure if that's real or if it's what I want. I don't know if I could handle it being Billy. My father? Or if Quil turned out to be my real brother? He's my other best friend. Plus how much pain it would cause Jacob and Quil. I'm quiet and tall, like Sam. But then, who is Joshua Uley? That means I've never met my Dad. To have Sam be my brother when he's not my Alpha anymore, that'd be rough._

"Rough?"

_It'd mess with my loyalties, you know? I'd have to consider switching back. _

Edward didn't speak. He nodded subtlety and clapped me briefly on the shoulder. I understood what he was saying. The message was "hang in there." He walked back to his seat to "lay down."

_I will, thanks._ I knew he wouldn't acknowledge that he heard me, so I let my mind wander. I'd never really spoken to Edward before, silently or otherwise. It meant something. Edward was a good listener, and someone far enough removed from the Quiulete tribe to give me some distance. He was extended family now, and a good person. He wanted to help. I smiled appreciatively out the window. The sun was beginning to rise slowly. I supposed I should try to sleep. My schedule was so thrown off without any patrols to run. I looked up at the monitor at the front of the plane, despite there being one attached to my seat. We were over Ireland now, not too far away from our British destination: London. Carlisle still remembered where he had lived. It was completely different of course, but he was going to point it out anyway. We'd get a London tour from him like no other, led by a 300+ year old tour guide. Ha. I didn't know what I'd do really in London, but I was drawn to the history of the place. Leah was planning on staying with me, for now, while Jake and the Cullens were continuing on to Ireland to visit with Carlisle's friend Siobhan's coven. They'd stay a week in London. It was more than enough time to help us get settled. I liked that Leah and I didn't have plans. We were on a "Gap year" of sorts, a European tradition I was unfamiliar with. Only we didn't have any schools set up to attend. It didn't matter much. We had time. In London I'd try to figure out what the future held, and what I was going to do about it. I also had to find time for 3 half-humans to have a Wolf conversation. I hadn't phased since we left Forks, also a strange feeling. But right, somehow. For now. I could feel my eyelids starting to droop. All of a sudden Carlisle came past me on the way to the bathroom, and I had to hold back the laugh threatening to burst from me. Who would have thought I'd be so comfortable with Vampires? He leaned over my seat, smiling.

"Get some rest. I don't want to have a zombie patient on my hands," He whispered.

I grinned. "As opposed to a Werewolf?"

"Right." He walked slowly, even for a human, to the bathroom. Five minutes later, I was dreaming of my father.

**Here's the end of Chapter 2. Sorry it took so long! I had some issues planning it out, and life intruded, the usual. Will Leah and Embry stay in London? What are the Cullens doing in Ireland? Will things go as planned? They so rarely do, so stay tuned! **

.


	3. Chapter 3

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**Left over from last chapter I just wanted to clarify that by the mention Embry made of his "Sister" I meant Leah. I had a question posted to me about that. Thanks for the adding me to your alerts and the reviews, I hope to stay a little more consistent in my posting so I don't disappoint! I'm also going to start adding a place category to the start of the chapters sometimes, since my characters will travel.**

_Doing Good_

"In the way this strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 3- No Quiet Find.

_The quote this time is all of Sonnet 27, by William Shakespeare._

POV: Leah

Time: About a couple of hours after chapter 2, around 8am.

Place: London, England

I finally got into the old-fashioned looking car on the second try. It took me a second to adjust to the door I wanted being on the other side. I wasn't used to taxis to begin with, small-town girl that I am. The driver didn't say anything, proof he had plenty of experience dealing with Americans. After helping stow our little bags in the back, Embry climbed in after me. We sat backward. This greatly amused him. He laughed aloud. In the next moment though, I was laughing more at him. His long legs barely seemed to fit. I had slightly more luck, but the two of us were hunched awkwardly to avoid slamming our heads on the roof. Jake would have sat with us too, but…

"How many Wolves can you fit into a clown car?" Embry whispered under his breath at that moment.

My mood was lighter than it had been a long time, and I couldn't stop laughing. I was also a little giddy from having my internal clock thrown off, despite a nap on the plane. The driver noticed as he opened the _right_ door, (pun intended,)

"Good thing you don't have much luggage!"

He got in and started the car. His accent was something I was going to have to get used to.

"No, we tend to travel light," Embry agreed, smiling at me.

_Oh yes, _I thought silently. In our wolf-form, Embry, Jake, and I would have shared the joke together, but I could see that Embry's thoughts were in line with mine, and there was no need. I thought about him and Jake walking around London barefoot wearing nothing but old shorts and smirked. He nodded. Although, we still had more than we would have ever brought ourselves- Alice had made us take a group shopping trip since we wouldn't let her touch the clothes.

Embry sighed, "Guess I'll have to wear shoes," looking mournful. I just rolled my eyes.

Our driver pulled out of the parking lot then and I looked out at easily _the_ biggest airport I'd ever seen. Two other taxis pulled out behind us, one carrying Jake, Carlisle, and Esme, the other Bella, Edward, Nessie, and most of their luggage. Tight fits, both. I hadn't gotten a good look at Kennedy in New York, we were there long enough only to change planes. I'd seen two gates, an international check-in, and long security line. I liked that we were even farther away from home now. I'd never taken a little train from one terminal to another. Waking up in London was a new start, somehow. I fervently hoped it would be. Embry seemed lost in thought all of a sudden as he looked out the window.

"I miss talking to you all… in the normal way," he whispered. He looked to see if the driver was paying attention. He wasn't, so he continued, "I feel off already."

I did know what he meant. "I know," I whispered back, "but it's going to be worth it Embry, I promise. Can't you feel the change?"

My voice was fervent with emotion as I spoke. England had a hold on me already and I hadn't even seen it yet. There was just a highway so far for crying out loud. I couldn't wait to see the real monuments, wishing I could know what Sam would think-

"Stop it Leah," I said to myself. Embry heard me, of course.

"Sam?" he asked quietly.

I didn't have to respond. He spoke for me.

"No matter how far we travel we're not going to be able to run from the past that easily. When we get to the hotel I HAVE to talk to you and Jake, alone, and really talk. We've got to work through why we're here."

"Do you know that?" I countered, "Because I sure as hell don't."

My mood evaporated as quickly as it had arrived. Embry stopped looking out the window and stared right at me.

"No, I don't, which is why we need to talk. All I know for sure is what I've left."

My thoughts immediately focused on Sam, but I forced myself to think of what Embry's mom had told him. She had known about the Wolves all this time. That meant she was definitely holding more back from Embry. Embry only had time to mention this startling revelation to Jake and me before we left, but not how he felt. Besides, I suppose he was trying not to think about it. I didn't blame him in the slightest. But he was right. We did need to talk. That left me with a quandary, because lately I'd felt more comfortable as a Wolf because it was easier to express myself, but less so because my Brothers could see _every _thought in my demented brain as I had it. Embry shook me out of my reverie.

"So, talking? Yes? Maybe?" He asked.

"Sorry, yes, absolutely. But how? Part of me wishes we could…change…," I said to keep the driver out, "you know?"

"Yes I do," he agreed. "I wish we could because right now it'd be just us, Seth, and Quil, and I'm more comfortable with you all."

"Good point. Let's see what Jake thinks."

"Right," He finished.

I figured I should look out the window again in case I missed something. All I got was the curious sensation of being on the "wrong" side of the road, but I'd expected that. Was that a sheep? I smiled at the thought of a new "predator" in town, and wondered if I'd have an opportunity to go after one. I was getting much better at eating raw. I sighed yet again. Any thought was worth it to avoid having to face the real problem. I stared out the window again at the tiny cars with odd license plates. Now I'd have to figure out what exactly I was doing in Europe- running from Sam? Embracing my independence? Taking advantage of magical powers? Seeing the world? "Finding myself?" I thought probably a little of each and all the above. It wouldn't be easy. In planning this trip with Bella I began to realize how much my tribe, and my little reservation I took for granted. It was truly all I knew. How would I hold onto that in London? The thing I loved best about being a Wolf was the stories. Of course! That's what was bothering me. I, the first female Wolf, had no connection, no history at home for me to know where I fit in! So maybe I'd have to learn about the past in general, and then I'd find the missing link. I decided then that I'd have to do a lot of historical sightseeing. I was in the right place. Suddenly I was almost as eager to talk to Carlisle again as I was to help Embry. I made a silent promise to miss nothing. I'd have to stop myself from racing to him the moment we stopped.

"I want to see all of London. Everything and anything," I announced. This statement amused the driver; he laughed quietly. Embry turned back slowly from the window again. I didn't know what held his gaze.

"What's the rush?"

I lowered my voice and said, "Perhaps my history is here, because there sure isn't a story about me in La Push."

Embry's automatic response didn't surprise me. My Brothers always stiffened when I spoke of feeling this way, as if it was somehow their fault or because they wanted to do more for me to help me fit in. But this time Embry changed his tone quickly and nodded at me.

He voice was almost a whisper. "Perhaps your right. The world isn't small."

"No it's not."

He lowered it even further and suddenly asked, "Did you ever consider that we've come over here to imprint?"

I hadn't thought of that. Maybe fate was pulling us where we needed to be. No, where Embry needed to be. I wasn't imprinting anytime soon. I was still menopausal, even as another year went by. What was the point of me imprinting if I couldn't have kids? Maybe I was supposed to meet the objects of my Brothers' imprinting. Technically, there were still 11 of the 17 Wolves who were still single. I didn't count myself as number 12. Maybe I was an ambassador of some kind. At least my life would have a purpose.

"Maybe you are." I told him as I slumped down in my seat.

Most of the time Embry was far too perceptive. It was becoming more of an issue now that we'd be spending so much time alone. Initially I was planning on having Jake as a buffer. When I had first spoke of leaving Forks, I had meant just Jake and I. Embry saw enough know to know not to pry. He tried to cheer me up instead.

"Maybe we're the ones who don't imprint, and we'll have an exciting and dangerous love-affair instead!" He could barely get the words out before he was cracking up. The driver looked at us curiously.

"Oh yes, I'm sure that's it. And what nationality would you prefer for your gorgeous model? I asked, laughing, "tall, obviously, but dark and Italian? Walking the runways of Milan? What of Paris? Or will you head north next to find your blond Scandinavian? Or exotic Russian?"

"A model? Since when do you know the fashion industry?"

"Of course a model, it's a love affair!" I rolled my eyes. "Alice has insisted I not lose my feminine side simply because I hang around with males all day."

"Sounds like you need to head for the runways then, not me."

"I'm just reading a few magazines. No telling the guys."

Embry continued laughing but said soberly, "I promise to avoid thinking about it." He couldn't hold it in for long.

I noticed the driver looking at us again. I glared back. He returned to the road. We spent the next 20 minutes in silence as the scenery started getting more interesting to look at. We were obviously getting closer to London. I continued watching the Thames fly by. Suddenly the driver spoke-

"There's Buckingham Palace."

"Where?" Embry and I yelled at the same time.

"We're not passing by the front, but it's just down that road." He said.

Soon after that excitement we pulled up to our hotel. Fancy was an insulting understatement. I tried not to gawk too obviously as Carlisle got us checked in. We were handed a bag of goodies, which were all silently passed to Nessie, Jake, Embry, and I.

"Welcome back, Dr Cullen, yes, of course, we have your reservation right here." A well-polished manager greeted us. He turned to spring a few porters into action. We were a big group.

Of course we didn't have to carry our own bags, and we were personally escorted to our rooms by a really lovely porter. I wondered how long it would take them to get all the bags upstairs…Probably not very, they did their job well. Every time we passed an employee we were greeted with a "good morning."

"You have the Prince of Wales suite, Mr. Call and Ms Clearwater.

Embry and I had our own suite? A penthouse! We protested mightily that it was too extravagant but Edward rolled his eyes at us and Carlisle turned a deaf ear to our complaints. The suite was more like an apartment, with 2 bedrooms, its own hallway and cloakroom, a dining room, living room, a butler's kitchen, and 2 marble bathrooms. I squealed. Embry looked at me in alarm. I never squeal. The porter smiled and went to show the others their rooms.

"There are TVs in the bathroom!" I called to Embry.

"What? No way."

"See for yourself!"

Embry came flying in. It was nice in times like these that we were agile enough not to worry about breaking anything. His jaw dropped.

"This is insane, how can we be expected to ever leave our rooms?"

"Well, you know the Cullens would set it up for us to stay indefinitely if we wanted," I said seriously.

"I might have to take them up on that." Embry was only half joking, it seemed.

Embry left the bathroom and I followed, back into a very flowery, old-fashioned extravagant bedroom. It was purple. He continued walking.

Suddenly he called, "This bedroom is mine; it's less girly!"

"Hey, I won't complain about anything!" I called back, and then went to sit down on my queen-sized bed. This really was insane.

The porters came with our bags, and I found my way back to our little private hallway to let them in. They were fast. Soon Jake came to find us. He had a suite to himself that could be connected via a little lobby to the Cullen's two bedroom suite. His suite seemed to be really similar, just a bit smaller. He said we could look later. He wanted to talk. We went into our living room. The atmosphere was suddenly much more serious and quiet as the porters took their leave. Jake tipped them extravagantly; he must have had some Cullen dough already on him. He returned to sit opposite me on a huge sofa. Embry took a nearby hard-backed 19th century style chair.

"Embry and I had a similar idea on the way here." I told Jake. I was glad we were still thinking alike.

"Figured as much," he responded.

"We can't actually phase to do this can we?" Embry asked hesitantly after a moment.

There was a long silence, and then Jake turned to Embry.

"I don't think so. I'll find a way to tell Quil and Seth. How you holding up? It was bothering me again on the plane that we had to leave so soon. I thought about it a lot and I still can't process it. How could you Mom not have told you she knew?"

"I don't know." Embry said. "She seemed to think she had a good reason."

"Which was…" Jake asked.

"She wouldn't say much," Embry spoke slowly, "all she'd tell me is that my father loved her too much to keep the possibilities a secret and that it was more complicated than we knew. She said it wasn't the right time."

I tried to wrap my head around what Embry was saying. He had looked at Jake significantly when he said "my father." It might be Billy Black. Jake couldn't ask. I couldn't begin to understand the awkwardness that had to be plaguing Jake, Quil, and Sam. Well less Sam, since he never really knew his father either. Seth was everything to me. I hoped for Jake and Quil's sake that Embry was another Uley. But if he was, that just meant there was yet another piece to the wall between Sam and his father.

"Don't take this the wrong way Embry, but I have to hope we're not really brothers. Although if we are, I promise not to hold anything against you." It was the first time Jake had really spoken to Embry about it.

"I understand. I know we'll be there for each other, no matter what happens. I'll always be glad to follow you Jacob, but now I'm thinking I need to go off on my own for a while."

"Without me?" I asked impulsively.

"We'll see after this week ends. I was under the impression that's what you wanted as well." Embry replied.

"What do you want?" Jake asked as he shifted himself to look back at me.

I had to think before I answered him. It was complicated. "Well Embry and I have talked about this a bit too- part of me hates breaking away from the Wolves and part of me is rejoicing. I'm thinking of this as a fresh start. I'm not sure if I want company yet or not."

"Some moments I pity my mother, and some moments I'm furious with her." Embry chimed in.

"I need to break away from Sam, not you." They knew by "you" I meant Jake's pack: Jake, Embry, Quil, and Seth. "I'll miss you too much."

"Well, that's part of the reason I came along." Jake smiled as he spoke. "I'll miss you too much too. Even you Leah. We can still phase sometimes."

"Ha-ha." I said. At that moment there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Embry called.

It was Edward. He hesitated walking in, obviously having heard our thoughts even while he was outside and he didn't want to interrupt.

"Time to get going Edward?" Jake asked and got up from the couch.

Embry also walked over to Edward, not speaking, but staring right at him.

"I talked to Embry for a while on the plane." Edward said then.

I looked at Embry in surprise and walked over to him. Embry nodded, and addressed Edward.

"Please don't stay out of this, you were a big help. You're part of this family now too." Embry reminded Edward. Edward didn't really need the reminder.

"Of course, I just tend to avoid interfering even in my own siblings affairs. I tend to know too much." He explained, mostly to me it seemed as he pointed to his head. Edward chuckled lightly as Jake spoke.

"Too bad you didn't know to listen to Embry's mom."

Edward's expression turned more serious, "Who knows if anything would have changed?" He mused.

I agreed and then needed a change of subject. "You're right, and we can't figure that out today. I want to find our tour guide!"

This also amused Edward. "_Carlisle_ and Esme are unpacking the bags. You want to meet us in our suite in 20 minutes? Bella used to talk about needing "human moments," as she called them."

I smiled, that sounded right to me. "Sounds good," I said for Jake and Embry's benefit. My hair could use a thorough brushing now that I thought about it. Embry just nodded. Jake and Edward left to go back upstairs, and Embry and I went to change our clothes before meeting Carlisle and the rest of our group.

**Next up Carlisle shows the newest family members some of where he's from. But that's not the whole story. We're very close to meeting some new people that Stephenie Meyer never mentioned and maybe even finding more old friends, (besides the Irish coven!) So come on back to find out!**


	4. Chapter 4

As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes.

Doing Good

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne.

Chapter 4- I'll Take My Chances.

"Who knows how much further we'll go on/Maybe I'll be sorry when you're gone/I'll take my chances/ I forgot how nice romance is/I haven't been there for the longest time."

-"The Longest Time," by Billy Joel

POV: Leah

Time: Day 4, Day 3 of the London week, about 1pm

I sat off by myself in the corner of a gallery in the British museum. I had just finished looking at one of the museum's most famous artifacts, the Rosetta stone, and strangely found myself wondering if any vampires had been involved. I heard a voice that was becoming more familiar to me and looked up.

"Probably." Edward said under his breath. I chuckled and then I saw Carlisle follow him over.

"Edward, leave her be." He chastened. "She's experiencing this for the first time, don't intrude."

'You forget I'm the one that can read minds." Edward responded so softly I had to strain to hear him. "She wanted company."

Edward was right. I'd seen so much over the last few days it was a little overwhelming to be alone. Edward spoke louder.

"It's always been one of my favorite cities, I'm glad we'll be staying closer for a while. I love the history and tradition especially."

"More present day in your case I imagine, what are you, 200?" I joked.

"That's me." Carlisle didn't miss a beat, "only 200? Thank you for the compliment."

I giggled. I looked out to see where Embry was. It was becoming strange to be away from him for any length of time. We'd wandered off on our own at the Tower of London and taken an insane number of pictures with the guards, stocks, and ever-present ravens, and I'd noticed us standing together in all the pictures I'd uploaded last night from the last few days. I couldn't find him.

It was fun being a tourist, more than I expected it to be. We'd seen the London Eye and the Millennium Bridge, watched a changing of the guard (Nessie loved the horses and the tall hats they wear) and went to the palace Princess Diana had lived in. We were a little better at cramming more into our day than most. Obviously we also had to cover Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Tower Bridge, (what I thought was London Bridge, of the nursery rhyme.) Next up were museums and theaters. Tonight we were going to a West End show, (Bella was amused that we'd make it to a London show before a Broadway show,) and this morning we'd gone to the Tate Museum, which was small, but really nice, I thought. They had some beautiful landscape paintings, huge, too. Tomorrow we'd also see some more modern history, at the Cabinet War Rooms, headquarters of the London war effort, which were kept exactly as they were at the end of World War II. The Cullens loved that museum, all of them having lived through that intense time. We were going to the Globe too, which would be sort of an introduction to Carlisle's London, even though Carlisle had never seen the original either. It was taken down a few years before Carlisle was born. It was kind of scary to think that was only a century after Shakespeare. Carlisle was going to take us through a small part of London in the last days we'd be here, since his human experience here was pretty limited. Not much travel for minister's son, besides being far more difficult to get around. Most of his knowledge of the rest of the city came from his many return trips. It was fascinating how much he knew. He could tell you exactly how London changed over time.

I got up and kept looking for Embry, but I figured he must have moved on to the next room. I found him in a corner talking to this tall blond. She looked like she should be a member of the Denali coven, except she was obviously human. As I came closer I realized her features weren't as pretty, and not quite so Russian, whatever Russian features looked like. I didn't particularly know. The blond watched me walk closer for a moment with a smirk on her face, and then walked away, past where the Cullens were standing loosely together. She disappeared quickly into the crowd of tourists. I reached Embry then.

"Who was that Em, She didn't have to leave."

"What?"

I didn't know where the nickname came from. I went with it. "Do you have something against Em?"

"No, just…"

"Ok, so don't change the subject. Who was it?"

"No one, I was just being friendly. She must have thought you wanted me to come with you." He said.

"No one?" My eyebrow rose. "I'm not your jailer or your mother- what's with the secret? She obviously thought I was competition. Did you see that look she gave me?" I was amused.

"Yes." Embry said curtly. "It's not a secret. I didn't ask for her name... or her number. I'm traveling with you all."

"I'm sorry I scared her off."

"It's alright, it's not like I can really tell her my background anyway. Besides, you are prettier."

I smiled at him. I had enough of an ego that it did please me that he thought I was the prettier one. Or maybe it was all the time we were spending together. Suddenly Embry had a lot bigger place in my life then he did at home. I was just surprised that he voiced it. It must have rubbed off on him too. We were planning to move on, so I turned to follow the Cullens. Embry pulled me back.

"Uta." He said.

"Excuse me?"

"Her name."

"Why did you…" Abruptly I was a little annoyed that he lied to me.

"I don't know. I'm sorry."

I walked on. I was possessive of Embry. Actually I was possessive of all the Wolves, especially Sam, Seth, and Jake, my Alpha. It was a little different with those who had imprinted but this, I didn't like. Again I was surprised. I didn't speak to Embry much through the rest of the day. I was too busy trying to answer this new question in my head. "Why Embry?" I wasn't even in love with him.

POV: Embry

Time: Evening of Day 6 of the London week, 5 days after chapter 3.

The room was dark; I tried to think of anything that would take my mind off Uta and the past; so I tried to focus solely on the present. I was lying awake in my boxers, (clothing I was bizarrely not used to wearing nowadays) and I was so restless. It was only around 11pm. It was useless to think I'd sleep. I pulled on slacks and a collar-less shirt. I already had an idea. Just as I expected, I found Leah sitting awake in her room. She hadn't even changed from the day. We had yet to get used to no patrols, our personal struggles and the time change weren't helping us either.

"You want to go out?" I asked.

She turned her head to look at me. "Where?"

"I don't know but there are plenty of pubs around. This is London."

"Right." She laughed. "Sure. Just let me change. Be a little festive for once."

"I'll be out in the sitting room," I said as I headed out of her room; closing the door behind me.

She was out much faster than I expected. She was wearing a short blue dress, with this loud print and boots. Her hair was piled up on her head. She had even put on makeup. Where was Sam's Lee-Lee? Long gone, it seemed. I didn't blame her. I didn't say much either. She looked abruptly anxious.

"Too much?"

Her voice came out higher than normal. There was a knock on the door. I hurried to re-assure her as she went to answer it.

"No, Leah, you look fantastic. Alice would be proud."

"Speak of the devil and the devil will appear!" The voice of a high bell suddenly interrupted us. Alice and Jasper walked into the room. I stiffened at the unexpected smell. Alice noticed. "Oh of course, I'm sorry," she continued, "we got in while you were out. We just came by to say hello."

"It's alright," I disagreed. I was much more used to the smell of vampires by now, "you just took me by surprise." Jasper went to open a window. A breeze blew in.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yes. Hello!" I changed the subject and addressed Alice. "So, the professional opinion on Leah please?" I said jokingly. Alice pretended to inspect Leah before speaking. Leah played along and spun once.

"I'm so proud." Alice gushed. "Embry wasn't exaggerating." Even Jasper smiled at Leah.

"Nice." He said simply.

"Nice?" Alice countered, shaking her head at Jasper. She asked Leah, "What am I going to do with him?"

Leah understood. "You think Jasper's going to look more at me than you?"

Jasper nodded and smiled. "Thank you Leah." He paused briefly. "Where are you off to?"

"We don't quite know." I said. "We're not really up to sleeping yet."

"And we're too wired." Leah added. I nodded.

"There was a promising looking bar we passed on the way here." Alice gave us the name. "Looked nice enough. Two blocks down. We're obviously not beer experts." She laughed.

"Sounds good. Want to get going Em?" Leah asked me.

Jasper jumped. Alice started.

"Em?" She asked, and then quickly understood. "Oh." She started laughing. Jasper looked at me.

"Leah's taken to calling me Em over the last few days. She hasn't done it in front of your family yet." I explained.

Leah spoke. "I didn't think about it actually. That's funny," she mused then said to Alice and Jasper, "I won't confuse you, I doubt you'd get used to it."

"You're right." Jasper agreed. "Want us to let Jake know you're going out? We're headed up there."

"You could tell him, but we'll already be out. He'll probably be asleep. Nessie's a handful to keep up with." Leah said. She sounded reluctant to have Jake come along. Strangely I agreed.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow." I said. Jasper and Alice didn't comment. Instead they headed for the door and said almost simultaneously, "have fun!" They chuckled. Leah grabbed her purse. We followed them out and locked the door. They headed up a nearby staircase. Elevators were silly to them. We went ahead to the elevator, in no hurry. Leah questioned me as we walked.

"Pub two blocks down?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Why not?"

It didn't take long for an elevator to come. An employee greeted us as the door opened. "Good evening. Going down?" She asked.

"Yes. The lobby." I said as we walked in.

"Excellent." She smiled at us. The doors closed and it was short ride. As we walked into the lobby, a porter was quick to help us. "Do you require a taxi?"

"No thank you." I said. "We only have a short walk." I repeated the name Alice gave us. The porter spoke again.

"Oh yes, of course. Very lively pub. Good fun." He said cheerfully. "Two blocks west."

Leah thanked him as we left. When we got to pub, we realized we were a little behind the rest of London. I looked around the crowd.

"He wasn't kidding." I said. Leah was only half paying attention, because she realized she had already turned a few male heads as she walked in. I couldn't read her expression, but she didn't look upset about it. Our dark skin stuck out like a beacon, I noticed, not for the first time this week. Only those of actual Indian and African descent were darker. Leah wasn't the only head turner. I smiled at one pretty blond who was staring at me and she smacked one of her girlfriends, who had been engrossed in a conversation with another. I noticed Leah glare at her and she turned away. Leah could be pretty scary when she wanted to.

"That was unnecessary." I chided softly as I turned for the bar.

She stopped me. "What happens to me if you go off somewhere?" She asked.

"She only smiled." I said. Leah turned and reached the bar first. Suddenly the guy on the other side of her was offering to buy her a drink. He'd obviously not seen me, or didn't care. I walked forward to return the favor, smiling.

"That's not necessary." I repeated my same words, only to the guy this time, glaring at him over Leah's shoulder. He walked away.

"Touché." Leah smirked at me. We sat down on the empty stools in front of us. The bartender spotted us.

"What will it be?" He asked. We predictably ordered two local beers on tap. No American beers for us in Europe, we were good tourists. Our accents gave us away anyway.

"Americans huh? Where are you from?"

"Washington State." I said. We'd learned qualify it from DC.

"But what reservation?" He asked us.

"Wow!" Leah exclaimed. "Very good. It's a tiny reservation called La Push, not too far from Seattle. We're Quiluete." She finished.

"I've traveled around the southwest," he said, "I encountered a few tribes on my travels."

We got into a longer conversation with him then, telling him we had a good friend from Phoenix. He'd enjoyed his visits. "Too hot of course, and no rain" he grimaced. We agreed that it was easy for us to handle London weather. He offered a few other suggestions for beers we simply had to try, and seemed to speak more to Leah then to me. I wasn't surprised. I also didn't have to question what Sam or any other guy had seen in her. In her best moments, Leah glowed and spoke passionately. I found it strange at first that I hadn't noticed in La Push. Then I realized I already knew she was pretty. We all did. I was grateful Leah couldn't hear my thoughts as I remembered her naked the few times I'd seen her. Ok, more than just pretty, I conceded to myself with a grin. I turned back to the conversation. Leah was asking his other travels, around Europe. There seemed to be a lot.

"Amsterdam's great of course, a little crazy sometimes." I heard the bartender say laughing. Leah interrupted him.

"Perhaps a little too crazy for me." She laughed too. He asked more about our life at home, and then Leah was doing more of the talking. I added a few comments now and then to be polite, but I mostly sipped my beer and watched her. She spoke mostly about Seth, Jake, and I.

Then the bartender asked, "So do you and your husband have any kids?"

Leah sat back on her stool. She couldn't answer. She started staring at the bartender, and I said hurriedly, "Oh, we're not married, just traveling buddies."

Leah snapped out of it then long enough to say, "oh yes, we're just friends traveling together. Excuse me." She hurried in the direction of the bathroom.

"Forgive me!" the bartender said to me, "that's obviously a sensitive issue for her, but the way you were watching her and the way you were conversing easily together, I just assumed..."

I cut him off. "It's no problem, excuse me." I quickly paid our tab.

"Of course." I barely heard him say. I was already pushing through the crowd to find Leah. I found her slumped in a booth at the back of a bar, trying not to cry. She saw me and looked up.

"Let's get back." I said. It wasn't too late, only past 1am, but Leah needed to be alone. She was weak as she stood up. I helped her a bit out of the bar, and she gripped me tightly the whole way back to the hotel. She got her face composed enough by then, but I knew she was suffering badly. We didn't speak much until we were back to the suite. Leah couldn't hold herself together anymore. I'd never seen her cry so hard. She soaked my shirt. I moved her down to the couch and we sat down. I just waited for her to speak.

"Em, I…"

"Whatever you do, don't apologize, Leah." I said firmly. She looked me in the eye.

"I've realized something Embry. I'd marry you; I'd marry any of the Wolves if it meant I could have a child." She said quietly.

It was my turn to stare. We'd always thought of her belonging to Sam, all this time. I wondered now why she hadn't imprinted on any of my Brothers, or me, for that matter. She wasn't really my sister. Or did we have to imprint on her? But that wasn't the point. Why not? She obviously had the right family. I should have realized she was a perfect candidate. Now she thought she wasn't. Was another Wolf even a possibility for imprinting, or did we just have a relationship like normal people did? Was that what I was destined for? Suddenly I was alone here with Leah thousands of miles from home, and I couldn't answer that question. I looked at her again. Even with puffy eyes, she wasn't merely pretty. She kept staring at me, barely breathing. I made a decision.

I leaned over and kissed her. She jumped, but she didn't pull away. She kissed me back hesitantly, and then more forcefully, as I put my arms around her. The bartender was right, we were comfortable together. I'd somehow missed it. I stuck my tongue into her open mouth. She leaned into my embrace and the sofa made a groaning noise. Leah pulled back chuckling and got to her feet. She held out her hand to pull me up and I took it. She smiled as she let go and headed toward my room, grinning broadly and kicking off her boots as she went. She turned away and removed one sock, which she placed delicately on a lampshade, then took off the other one a few feet later, flinging it over her shoulder. Her eyebrows rose as she anticipated my response. I didn't take my eyes off her. I didn't think much either, something kept telling me I needed to be with her, now. I listened to my instincts. When I followed her to my room I saw she wasn't headed for my bed. She stopped in the middle of the room. I walked toward her. I stepped out of my shoes and socks. She grabbed me around the waist and pulled me forward. I let her kiss me this time and I couldn't deny how much she was arousing me. It stunned me a little. Leah was hot, plain and simple. I pulled the clip holding her hair up and it cascaded down around her. Wow. She yanked at my shirt and I lifted my arms, letting her pull it over my head. She rubbed her hands down my bare chest and then placed them around me waist. She kissed me even longer, gripping my back until it was almost painful. She pulled her head back briefly.

"Em," was all she whispered.

"Shh…" I pulled back and walked over to the bed. I remembered fleetingly I was still virgin. She wasn't. It didn't matter. She just shook her head and walked into the bathroom. Her actions had me perplexed, so I followed her. She smiled as I walked in, and headed for the huge bathtub. Jacuzzi was a more appropriate word for it; it was massive. She turned on the jets and bubbles and water began to spray out all around. Leah looked at me sheepishly and shrugged.

'I've always wanted to try it." she said huskily. Her voice didn't match her expression. I sat down on the toilet seat and let her continue her seduction. As the water continued to fill Leah began to remove her dress. I say began to remove it, because I hadn't known someone could remove a garment as slowly as she did. First she pulled it down her shoulders, then half her arm, her elbow, her wrist, and her hands. She held the dress under her arms so it wouldn't fall off her. She slid it even slower over her bra, and then down her stomach until it was only covering her waist down. She drove me crazy! She came forward as she revealed her underwear, which must have taken an hour in my horny mind, and they matched- simple, a little frilly, and also blue. Not see through though. Finally the dress fell in a heap, and I exhaled audibly. But instead of putting me out of my misery, she went over to turn off the main spout, leaving only the bubbles swirling in the tub. I got up and walked over to her. She pulled down my pants and boxers in one motion, almost tearing the fabric.

"Careful!" I half-joked, laughing. I didn't expect to be nude first.

She said nothing, but she reached for her bra. I wanted none of that. I pulled her closer, and managed to unhook her bra while she kissed me. Not that I was so bad at unhooking bras, but you'd be a bit distracted too if you had hands grabbing your behind and circling around... I was already hard. When she was topless I bent down to suck on her breasts. Her legs buckled a little and she couldn't torment me quite as much. It was only fair. Finally I pulled off her underwear, and pulled back to get a real look at her.

"As gorgeous as that dress was, I like it better over there." I pointed to where it was lying in a heap.

Leah giggled softly, then stepped carefully into the water with a towel and lay down. She placed the towel under her head. The bubbles obscured her body from my sight. I wasn't having that either. I stepped in after her and laid myself gently on top of her. She felt incredibly warm, which was saying something for us Wolves. The heat between us must be enough to break a thermometer. The water felt cool in comparison. She put her arms around me again and kissed me once more. This time she placed more than just her arms around me. She spread her legs and placed them around me as well. I ran my hands down her back and kissed her mouth, her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, her forehead, and her ears…her eyelids fluttered closed. I casually massaged her breasts. I let my tongue trace down from her earlobes down to her neck and back up to her lips. As I traced her lips, I braced myself and entered her in one stroke. Her eyes flew open in shock.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Leah just groaned and pulled me down closer. The result was overwhelming. I couldn't find the words to describe the pleasure I felt. I pulled out slightly and entered her again. It didn't take us long to find a rhythm, we fit so naturally together. Her hands were all over my skin, and I was barely aware of where I was touching her, but I took in sensation after sensation. It seemed to be all of her, all at the same time. Her skin was just like mine, her body was just like mine, and it was so natural for us. I couldn't stop my awe. I just pushed into her again and again. She spoke once, but it was more of a cry,

"Move left, Embry!"

I adjusted her under me, and she groaned again as she began to move faster. The water began splashing more intensely in the tub. I didn't break the rhythm, but how I managed to stay with her, I'll never know. She only moved faster, yelling incoherently on almost every stroke. I sped up with her, until I felt like I was about to lose control, but thankfully she cried out first.

"EMBRY!" She screamed. She almost slipped underwater.

I kept her from falling under. I smiled as I found my release a brief moment later. I crushed my lips to hers one more time as I exploded into her, the sound of the water roaring in my ears. We were both panting as we surfaced for air, sputtering out of the water and laughing.

"You are smoking." I said. It was true.

Leah laughed but she didn't respond. She merely touched my chest with her finger and pretended to pull back quickly, as if it burned her skin. She hissed through her lips and shook her hand. Then she blew the air out of her mouth in a whistle. I kissed her again. I couldn't help it.

"Now I'm tired." She grinned, and continued, "We do have to get up tomorrow." She sighed.

I laughed at how chagrined she sounded. It would have been nice to simply move from my bathroom to my bed…

"It's not that late" I began.

She couldn't help herself. "You win." She stepped out of the water and handed me one of those fluffy bathrobes. "Put this on a moment." She said. She wrapped herself in another after toweling off. I did the same. We wore the bathrobes only long enough to reach my bed. As she slipped hers off, she said, "This is more comfortable."

'Fine by me." I knew I had this ridiculous grin on my face. I didn't try to hide it. Leah knew me well anyway.

I lay down with her again. This time was shorter, but it was deeper and more aggressive, since the bed could move with us. The sheets were twisted into hopeless knots, and Leah left nail marks in my back. Did I care? Of course not. I silenced her cry with a kiss, thinking I probably shouldn't let her wake up the whole hotel. We fell asleep quickly afterward. She never pushed me off her, which I preferred, really. My hands rested on her breasts and under her hips. She tucked her head into my neck. I was more comfortable wrapped around and inside her than I'd been in a long time. For once, I slept peacefully.

So is that it? Do you think Embry and Leah were supposed to be together all along? Will they at least have a little fun for a while? Things look different in the morning. How much different, you'll just have to wait and see! Please tell me what you think, especially if you think I'm out of my mind for bringing Leah and Embry together.


	5. Chapter 5

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**Thanks to my Reviewers! Keep letting me know what you think!**

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Ch 5- It's Just Not That Easy

"Cause we want to be free, but somehow it's just not that easy…" –"Release Me_,_" byWilson Phillips

POV: Leah

Time: The next morning, of course…

I came to awareness slowly. My first thoughts were quite at odds with one another. I was ridiculously comfortable, and uncomfortable, all at the same time. As I woke up I'd like to say I was a little disoriented, or a lot happier, but I was all too aware of where I was, and how I got there. I truly didn't know how I felt emotionally, except for guilty, which I hated. Physically I was feeling the usual soreness and my body was reeling from all the pleasure. I could feel, smell and hear Embry's breath on my face- warm, smelling like home, and sounding…sated and content. I half-smiled without any real happiness. I couldn't see him. Nor did I see the high ceiling above my head. Obscuring my sight was an imagined pair of faces. Jake's wasn't criticizing, his was concerned. It was like he was already reading my mind as I struggled to comprehend what I wanted now, and was wondering what this meant for his pack.

The other of course, was Sam's. Sam. I still couldn't escape him, even as I shared a bed with his Wolf Brother. Wait a sec that could be even truer than I thought! I didn't know what that meant. I did know now that if I were to make good on my little statement last night and marry one of these Wolves, if they were all free, well- it'd be Embry. I couldn't deny how easy, how natural, and how, whatever the right word was, fiery, perhaps? Last night was. It was fantastic. I grinned in spite of myself. It changed my outlook. I didn't realize Sam and my relationship was more complicated than this, even before our transformations, but it was. I was annoyed at myself as I realized that Sam came to mind almost out of habit, because that's what my mind thought I wanted, and that I had really begun to let go of him unconsciously when I left La Push. The thoughts came, and I hesitated to believe them. I wanted to. If they were true, Embry and the Cullens, including Jake, had given me an amazing gift, especially Embry. I could let go.

But it was never so easy. I grimaced as I thought about telling the man sleeping next to me I was moving on. I couldn't stay. I could already sense in the long run that Embry and I may have had a close relationship, with fantastic sex, heh, but still with a missing piece. We were opposites in personality sure, but we were too similar in our goals. Neither of us could fulfill the holes in the other's psyche. Coming to Europe had given me more confidence in my self-worth, and if I was meant to be with Embry, why did we need to find this out now? Why wouldn't I be able to give him a child? What was the point of me being a Wolf? The answer would always elude me if I stayed.

I thought about uncurling myself around Embry and sitting up, but I didn't want to either. It was so unfair that I had to reject this to embrace myself. He definitely didn't deserve it. I didn't want to hurt him, and I was terrified I would. It was more than that. I didn't regret last night for a moment, and I wasn't sure how to explain myself so that he'd understand. This wasn't a one night stand. It wasn't even a mistake. I paused. It was meant to be what it was. We needed the answer to the question, "Why Not?" and we got it. Because we were even greater than each other. We could be even more than Embry+Leah, and that thrilled me. I had the highest respect for Embry, he was one of _my_ guys in _my_ pack, second only to Seth. Now I knew how much he really believed in me. I reluctantly got up off the bed, (amazingly glad for my ability to move silently) before I started crying on him, and lightly kissed his forehead. He'd be dead to the world for a few more hours yet, I hoped. I got dressed and called an upstairs suite. He picked up right away.

"Hello?" He was a little groggy.

"I'm sorry, Jake, did I wake you? I need to talk to you. Can you grab Bella too and bring her down?"

His voice changed. "What's wrong Leah?" He asked, concerned.

"It's not wrong, exactly, but it's not something I'd like to get into on the phone either," I laughed nervously.

"Where's Embry?"

I hesitated before speaking pretty clearly, "I left him asleep."

'You left him..." Jake began for before I cut him off quickly.

"Exactly, right. I'm not panicked, or freaking out, I promise, I'm not even upset. But I didn't want you to find out from our thoughts, and I think Bella would be good for me right now, so can you bring her down?"

"Embry's still asleep?"

"Yes."

"Maybe you should talk to him first." He suggested, as if I'd missed the obvious.

"That's why I'm calling you. I've got a lot of mixed feelings right now, and I don't know what to say. Bring Bella down, and you two can step out if and when he wakes up. But please let me tell Bella."

"Of course, don't worry, she'll come." He said confidently.

"Thank you Jake."

"See you soon" he said warily. He hung up.

I put down the phone and went into the living room. I was especially grateful I was waiting for a vampire and a shape-shifter; it meant I wasn't waiting long. I answered the door when they knocked.

"Tell me what's wrong Leah." Bella stated immediately. She fairly flew into the room as she spoke and grabbed me in a hug.

"Nothing's wrong Bell, I told you." Jake followed and closed the door.

'I don't believe you." She said, letting go of me.

"Of course you don't." Jake chucked.

Bella turned to look at me expectantly. Jacob's smile vanished instantly. I sighed, and then spoke.

"I might as well just say it, I already told Jake- I slept with Embry last night. He's still asleep."

Bella didn't say a whole lot; she mostly looked at me, trying to scrutinize how this development should be reacted to. This was why I asked her down, I thought. What she did say was-

"Oh, I didn't realize you and Embry were even… I'm sorry; I should have noticed…You should have noticed," she directed glaringly at Jake. Jake shook his head, as did I.

"We were only pack mates," I said. "We'd gotten closer here, but you couldn't have expected this," I said to both of them. Jake spoke then.

"What are you going to do now?" he wondered.

"Do you know?" Bella asked.

"I have to leave," I began, "not because last night was terrible, or anything, because it truly wasn't! But I think Embry thinks I was looking for a relationship, and I feel like I misled him…" I broke off with worry.

"Start from the beginning." Bella encouraged.

I told them what happened in the bar, and how distraught I'd been, and how amazingly comforting Embry was, despite it.

"Oh dear." Bella commented.

I simply continued the story. I got to how he helped me back upstairs, and our conversation when we sat down on the couch. I had to pause before I repeated the crucial statement. "I've realized something Embry. I'd marry you; I'd marry any of the Wolves if it meant I could have a child." I repeated the exact words I used to Bella and Jake. Jake jumped slightly and then masked his expression. I told them it was true, and that I was worried Embry read too much into my words. The thing was, I knew I would marry him if I felt it was right, but I'd yet to come to that conclusion. I wasn't sure if I ever would now, my future felt so open and new.

"How can I possibly tell Embry I don't want to be with him but thank him sincerely for my freedom at the same time? I have to move on now."

Jake frowned, "Embry's not one to bang a girl and run… the only dating he's done…"

"He's been the more intense one, I know." I said.

"I think you need to tell him what you told us, and I think you're right, you do need to go." Bella said, "I'm happy for you Leah." "Did you have fun?" She asked suddenly.

"Woah, too much information!" Jake exclaimed.

"Shh! Jake!" I swatted him, and answered Bella in a much lower voice, 'I could tell Embry the truth, that is was the best sex I've ever had, and I don't think it would help." Jake's head turned involuntarily.

"The best?" he asked in spite of himself.

I sighed. "Yes." I knew he was thinking of Sam.

"I don't envy you then. I think I may have woken him up. Here that?" He asked unnecessarily. Bella was already at the door.

'Just be honest Leah, I think that's best." She said.

Jake walked over to me and gave me a quick hug. He whispered so low only a vampire would hear him clearly- "Do what you need to do Leah; I won't have this pack break up. I love you guys too much." I remained frozen where I was. He stepped back as he heard the door opening, but Embry saw him. He wore only pajama bottoms.

'Entertaining so early?" He asked, confused. Jake and Bella closed the door behind them. I breathed out heavily.

"I wanted to tell Jake outright, I couldn't let him, 'find out,'" I said.

"At 8 in the morning?" he asked incredulously. Then he smiled. "Come back to bed, we can skip breakfast."

"I can't Em." He seemed to really process my change in mood then. He grew very somber.

"I thought last night was…" he cut himself off to see what I'd say.

'The best sex I've ever had." I told him honestly. "That's not why I can't do it again, I would."

I watched his emotions change at my words, elation to depression.

'I don't understand," he said, his face a mask of uncertainty, "what is wrong?

I still didn't have the words.

****

POV: Embry

Time: About 20 minutes after Leah's woken up.

I was a little disoriented when I woke up, but not because I'd forgotten last night. Ha, I'd have to have been INSANE to have forgotten, and not male. But the change was obvious, because I wasn't still _inside _Leah. I frowned without really waking up. Then I reasoned she was probably squashed from most of my weight on top of her, plus, it was ridiculously hot as well, so I stopped blaming her. That made sense. I was only uncomfortable because I was obviously all the way at the other end of the bed from her nakedness, my arm even hanging off the side. I made to grab her around the waist to let her know I was awake, (translation- well rested…) but she wasn't in bed. My eyes flashed open, and I sat up even though I didn't need the better angle to see. She wasn't in the room! My thoughts flashed hopefully to a shower running, but there was no one in the bathroom, that was obvious too. A shout came from other room, but I could only hear the first part. It sounded like,

"Woah! Too…"

It drifted off. The door had some thickness, I noted. Old fashioned and heavy. I couldn't hear him. Him? Wait a sec. I recognized the voice. Why was Jake here? What did he want? Had he woken Leah up for something? I chuckled. She had to get rid of him, poor girl. Awkward…my eyes suddenly narrowed. There was a woman there too. I was almost sure it was Bella. I got up and pulled on my pajama bottoms. Something was definitely wrong. I moved quickly, wanting to untangle the confusion and reached for the door. I finally made out Leah's voice-

'I could tell Embry the truth, that is was the best sex I've ever had, and I don't think it would help."

My mind went blissfully blank for a moment while I took in her words. For the moment, I wasn't going to quibble or wonder over why she felt the need to broadcast this so quickly, I'd just accept the fucking amazing compliment. Pun intended. Then I replayed the second half of her sentence in my head. Help what? I was lost. I had forgotten to keep listening outside. As I began to open the door, I heard Bella finish-

"…honest Leah, I think that's best."

That sounded ominous. I could only really see Leah's back, and I was more than a little surprised to note that she was dressed. She still looked hot. But how long had she been up? I saw Jacob walk toward her and hug her briefly. He whispered something in her ear. Leah's shoulders were slumped. I unconsciously opened the door faster in response and Jake let go of Leah as he heard me. Bella moved blurring fast to the front door of our suite. I couldn't make sense of what I saw. Why was Leah even awake? I'd just have to ask. I tried to keep it light, but it didn't work. I could hear the strain in my voice-

"Entertaining so early?" I asked. Jake and Bella closed the door behind them. Leah took a second to respond. She spoke in a huff.

"I wanted to tell Jake outright, I couldn't let him, 'find out,'" she said.

"At 8 in the morning?" I asked incredulously.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Leah, but really, what's the rush? I let my thoughts drift back to the confidence. I didn't think she knew I had heard her.

So I just smiled. "Come back to bed, we can skip breakfast."

"I can't Em." Her response was immediate, apologetic, and final, all at the same time. I had no idea where her mind was, which was really annoying, and downright painful, really. I felt too cut off. I started to speak before I really knew what I was saying then cut myself off.

"I thought last night was…" What she thought was far more vital.

'The best sex I've ever had." She finished my sentence. She said it again! But she didn't pause. "That's not why I can't do it again, I would."

I felt the most amazing high fall right off a cliff without any of the rush. It was only terror and pain as I hit bottom.

'I don't understand," I heard the words come out of my mouth from far away. I was desperate to have her pull me out of the blackness. "What is wrong?"

She didn't speak for a long moment, which was agony.

Finally, she tossed me a life raft, small, but effective.

She strode over to me and kissed me, not hard, but she put her arms around my neck for a moment. I kissed her back slowly, until she stepped back so that she could speak.

"I'm sorry, but I had to wipe that pain off your face, that was awful." She explained.

It was good enough. I felt calmer. "Enlighten me. Why do you have to apologize?" I questioned her. "Why won't you tell me what's changed? And how? I can't even begin to work through what this will mean…" I trailed off accordingly.

"Because I'm terrified of what you'll think." She turned away and sat back on the couch where she was last night. She put her feet up and wrapped her arms around her legs. I tried to sit next to her, but she pushed me away. She gathered herself and continued then, more resolved, moving closer to the edge of the cushion, "I will feel nothing but gratitude for what happened last night for as long as I live." She stared into my eyes as she said this. I felt like I was missing something essential.

"And you're scared of telling me this why?" I asked in amazement.

"Because I have to go. I can't stay here." She dropped her head.

"You're walking out?"

Her words came tumbling out. "It's not like that. I'm not meant to be with you Embry, my future is somewhere else. For the first time, I was angry with myself for worrying about Sam, and you gave me that. That's _never _happened to me before and I feel like I'm free now to do what I really want and pursue new dreams and discover the Wolf I'm meant to be. And I can't help you…" She was looking at me, begging me to somehow misconstrue her bitingly cruel words.

I cut her off because I was getting too furious to listen. "After one night you know we're not meant to be together?" I spat, I continued to lay on sarcasm because it would hide how hurt I was, "Sounds like you had some pretty crappy sex before me! Oh don't worry, I won't tell Sam. Good thing he's with Emily now, huh?" Her face crumpled to what mine must have been, but I continued yelling, 'I'm glad I helped you break out of your little prison! Or is cage the more appropriate word? Fine, break off from the pack and find your solo Wolf, I don't need your help!"

Her reaction was immediate but timid, she was crying, "No Em, that's not what I…"

I couldn't stop interrupting her. I didn't want to her try to explain her rejection of me. "Don't call me EM!" I roared in her face. She reached to grab my arm, but I swung around and charged back into my room. I slammed the door shut. I was lucky it was so solid, because I would have broken the door.

"Embry!" She yelled, and then she banged on the door. Of course I didn't answer her, how could I? "EMBRY!" She yelled again, banging harder. She gave up quickly, still intuitively knowing I needed space. "I'll leave you alone completely," she called miserably; "you can find me with Jacob, if you want." I heard no sound except the front door opening and closing. Then I collapsed back onto my bed, staring out the window in disbelief. Only two words rang in my head. "Now What?"

**I think I'm just going to let this end speak for itself. **


	6. Chapter 6

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**Thanks again to my Reviewers! Keep letting me know what you think! It seems many of you were disappointed or even angry that Leah and Embry weren't going to end up together. I promise you, I have a plan. And even so, it wouldn't be much of a story if they just came to London, fell in love in one night, and then lived wolfully ever after now would it? So nothing easy was coming out of that night… (The italics show Leah's memory, just to be clear)**

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Ch 6- An American "Werewolf" in Paris

Lise Bouvier: Maybe Paris has a way of making people forget.

Jerry Mulligan: Paris? No. Not this city. It's too real and too beautiful to ever let you forget anything. – _An American in Paris_

POV: Leah

Time: 2 days after Ch 6, late afternoon.

Place: Beginning up the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.

"This view really is amazing." I said as I turned to look out over the expanse of Paris. As corny and as cliché as it was, (even I had heard too much about the beauty of Paris all the way back in La Push,) I knew now what all those people over the centuries were gushing about, and I had only gotten here today. It was easily the most beautiful city I had ever seen. I looked out over the view again and frowned.

The one I was talking with stepped forward and began to sing quietly, "can't lose these blues this Azure Te…"

"What are you talking about Alice?" I asked her.

"It's about you, right now. I've always thought Paris is wonderful. If you have someone to share it with," She clarified as her eyes found Jasper. He had walked to the other side to give us some space. "But the most depressing city when you're by yourself. I still don't understand why you came here." She finished.

"It would have been nice if I'd gotten this warning yesterday. It's too late now." I responded.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I can't see where you're going, as you know, I can't see any of our futures with Jacob nearby. Thankfully I'm not as anxious about it." I looked to make sure no one was eavesdropping. They gave Alice and I a wide birth in our little corner- a few stared curiously, but that was all.

"At least you can still see others of your kind," I whispered under my breath, "that's who we'd worry about anyway." She nodded.

"Why Paris?" She asked me curiously.

"You forget what it's like, not having been anywhere. How could I not see it? Embry obviously wants nothing to do with me now and since he was so set on going to Amsterdam, I figured now would be a good time. I think I want to see more history than he does, also… I screwed things up so badly." I turned out toward the panoramic view again. Alice came forward and put her hand on my shoulder.

"He shouldn't have yelled at you like that. Even Jacob said so." She said softly.

"Jake isn't happy with me. I can tell." I remembered his forced calm and I hated it. It had been months since I'd given him that kind of reaction to me.

"Jacob is caught in the middle. He cares about both of you so much. He doesn't want either of you hurt."

Yes, Jacob was caught in the middle. One of his best friends- his Brother Wolf and his Beta… well I still only regretted my words, not the night. I didn't realize how hurt Embry would be by what I said. Of course he yelled at me.

"I deserve it. How can Embry not think I was just using him to get over Sam?"

"He knows you better than that." Alice said. I wasn't so sure.

I saw Jasper walk back over. He must be sensing how awful I felt. I tried to rearrange my features, but I didn't know what expression they made.

"You can't fool me so easily," Jasper spoke with a little laugh, "my family knows that all too well." I felt a wave of peace fall over me then, but I lost it quickly. I turned from him.

"Not now Jazz," I heard Alice say, "Neither can this be fixed so easily," she sighed.

"I know." He said. He sounded frustrated. He really cared about me.

I looked back at the two vampires with new eyes. These were the two I knew the least, the ones that had always hovered on the edge of the Wolf-Vampire interactions. I think I knew why- Bella had had a chance to explain Jasper's more "military" background, which would make him naturally edgier around an unfamiliar species, and Alice couldn't "see" us. They were large barriers to overcome. And yet these two were the ones to volunteer to accompany me away from the main group. I had barely spoken to Embry yesterday; I spent it mostly with Jake. The Cullens came in and out. Poor Nessie was very upset; she couldn't understand why her Wolf people were fighting, and even stranger, why Jake didn't simply explain. She refused to leave my side in any case, insisting Jake do his best to cheer me up. Poor Jacob. Poor Embry. I thought back to our last conversation before he left, as he was putting his bags by the door:

"_I got a surprise when I walked into the lobby this morning." He said._

"_Oh?" _He had woken up early. It was the first words he spoke to me since the disaster morning the day before. _I waited._

"_Remember that girl Uta I was talking to in the museum?" _He showed no hesitation in his question. I expected little else with his attitude. I was surprised at the direction of the conversation though. Apparently he'd been holding back on me.

"_What about her?" I asked._

"_She was the surprise. I literally almost walked into her in the lobby. The really weird thing was that I didn't mention where I was staying. She's here too."_

"_Oh." _I didn't know what he expected me to say.

"_She told me she's traveling with a few of her girlfriends around Europe, just hoping on the Euro rail, that sort of thing, and she did invite you as well…"_

"_But now you're traveling with them." I finished for him. He didn't have to spell it out, I got it._

"_It's better this way." He said._

"_Really? That's quite a change from yesterday." I said, scathingly._

"_Wait a second, who refused who yesterday?" He began to get angry again._

"_Is it really necessary to throw another woman in my face?" I screamed at him. Then I started crying. "I'm sorry, you're right. But it's not like I don't care, Embry, you don't have to be so callous. Do you realize you've replaced Sam in my heart now? After one night? Don't you realize what a change that is?"_

He looked only slightly mollified._ "And yet you're still going." He grumbled. "I don't understand it."_

_I took a deep breath. "I believe an age old cliché is applicable here." I said. "It's not you. It's me." _I meant it.

"_And I'm as satisfied with that as most are who hear it." He said evenly._

"_I know." I took another deep breath. "Listen, I know you were only trying to tell me where you were going, I know that…"_

_He interrupted and surprised me, "I wasn't holding back what I had to say though. I'm still furious, Leah." _At least he was honest.

_I simply nodded. _

_He broke the silence with- "We're going to Amsterdam." _

"_Amsterdam?" I repeated._

"_I told Uta I'd never gone. She told me that was a crime. So we're going."_

"_I know I'm the last one you'll want to hear from right now, but I hope you'll contact me if you really need to-"_

_He interrupted me again. "Now I'm really insulted Leah." _He growled, and I'm not exaggerating.

_Oh God, what was I thinking?!? "I'm… oh, God, I'm so sorry. The pack's going to throw me out when we get back- maybe I should just live alone a while? I'm simply the worst..."_

_He sighed and wouldn't let me go on. "You're not. Don't Leah, it's just- I thought that maybe I'd found why I hadn't imprinted, that I found an answer for once instead of another question, and I don't see how you could give up so fast."_

"_I have to go with my instincts, Em." I flinched at my slip, but he didn't correct me. I breathed out a little easier. "Something is telling me there is more to it. There's more for you too. Our story's not over."_

"_Yeah well, good luck with that," He said. "I have to say goodbye to Jake and meet Uta." There was a knock on the door then and he opened it. A porter was there with a rolling hanging cart._

"_You too. Check in when you feel able. Goodbye Em." I could feel myself getting a little emotional again- Stupid Wolves always make me cry, I sighed internally. He surprised me again and hugged me. With a brief kiss, he whispered-_

"_Goodbye Lee." _

_The porter already had his bags on the cart. He followed Embry out the door, and I was alone._

I came back to the present and once again noticed the surrounding tourists. Alice and Jasper seemed content to let me mull things over. Immortals are never impatient. I still felt like a jerk. I was really, but there wasn't much I could do to change that until I saw Embry again in person. This wasn't something I was going to hash out over great distances through our mind link, and besides, you never wanted all your thoughts known in these situations anyway. I shuddered briefly.

"Want to get going?" I asked.

"Sure." Alice was quick to answer me. But I was distracted by the view yet again. The light had subtly changed. None of the humans seemed to notice yet, our eyes were more sensitive.

"On second thought, I may stay here all night." I told them. The sunset was bound to be overwhelming.

"I don't blame you, except that you're actually expected." Jasper told me. My mouth dropped a little in quite surprise. "A man I often work with told me about a nice little old lady who rents rooms. We figured you may not be so quick to leave here, and even if you do, we thought you'd rather not be alone in an unfamiliar city."

I was grateful. I didn't want to inconvenience the Cullens so I initially told Jake I'd travel alone and find myself a basic hotel, but Alice and Jasper insisted they were already on their way to Italy. Apparently they had already taken care of my accommodations as well. They were headed to Italy because Jasper wanted something more than the motorcycle he had gotten from Edward and his own car was already "old," in Cullen years- so, not very. They were headed to the Lamborghini headquarters in Sant' Agata, Italy. I didn't really understand the trip. Sant' Agata wasn't so far from Volterra, Italy, even for a human. Volterra was home of the worst vampires I had ever heard of, the Volturi. The Romanians were close, I amended. Who'd want to go anywhere near them? Jasper and Alice insisted they'd be fine, that the Volturi wouldn't try to attack them again so quickly after their last humiliating defeat.

"_It would feel like only yesterday," they assured me._ I asked them to look out for themselves. Personally I thought Edward and Alice just wanted another chance to sic Bella on Aro, Jane, Caius…I chuckled as we got into the open air elevator. The sun was starting to set.

"What's so funny," Alice asked.

"Just thinking about Bella…and Jane." I said. The surrounding tourists wouldn't find anything unusual in that response and the vampires didn't need any more explanation. They grinned along with me. Alice suddenly turned to a man in the elevator and slapped his hand before anyone saw. He grimaced in obvious pain while she glared at him. I doubt she really needed a vision to catch a human crime. He was reaching for a woman's wallet. I waited until we were at the ground.

'Excuse me, mam?" I asked, praying she spoke English. When she spoke, it was obvious she was an American- somewhere in the Mid-West, I'd guess.

"Yes, dear?"

"This may be one of the most glorious monuments in the world, but unfortunately it's also famous for pickpockets. You almost had your wallet snatched. My friend stopped him."

Alice had told me to be on the lookout on the way up. Not for us, we'd notice anyway, but for just this kind of thing. The woman reached for her wallet and offered me a Euro-

"Thank you so much, here's for your trouble. You are so kind."

I refused her money. "Don't worry about it, just stay on the lookout and maybe get one of those security purse things you see at the airport." I said.

"Thank you." She said again, and walked away. I followed Alice and Jasper. Not really able to stay inconspicuous by moving even at my normal speed in a big city (not that much, but admittedly a little slower than Alice or Jasper could) we took the nearest Metro to my new room. I amused myself by riding in the middle of two cars that were connected on the inside so you could walk through, balancing perfectly as the cars weaved underground. I remembered to stumble slightly occasionally, which in turn amused Alice and Jasper. As we got out the other end, I stared at the little arch over the stairwell we climbed out of. Even the Metro stops were beautiful!

Alice turned to me and said, "Not that this will bother you, but we've got a bit of a climb. This is Montmartre." She gestured up the hill. An enormous church was all I could really see.

"Should I know what that means?"

"It's a very famous section of Paris, known for the Sacre Coeur," Jasper gestured to the church as he spoke, "crepes, which I'm told are very good, and especially all the artists that live and show their work right here on the streets."

'Oh! Like Toulouse-Lautrec." I said.

"Exactly, very good Leah." Alice commended me, "Le Moulin Rouge is another nearby location."

"You mean was." I said. We began to walk up the many steps.

"No, it's still there. It's a nightclub of sorts now. Maybe Madam Anica will take you." She mused, laughing.

"My new landlord?" I asked.

"We were told she's rather feisty. You should get along well." Alice said.

We continued to move at a brisk human pace, as brisk as a human would have to climb so many stairs.

"Wait a second." I paused. "These are the stairs at the end of American in Paris!"

Alice nodded. "Right again."

"And where Amelie hides one of her clues…" I continued, visualizing the arrows heading up to phones.

Alice nodded, "She lives in one section of Montmartre."

"I didn't know you watched so many films" Jasper commented. I just shrugged. There wasn't that much to do around Forks. We finally reached the top. We still passed many humans by. When we got near the church, I looked out into the fading light. I could still see the humongous view. It was very different from the top of the Tower, and yet still impressive. The lack of light wasn't a problem.

"We told her 8:30" Jasper said.

"You've spoken to her?" I was surprised yet again.

"Briefly. She seems sweet." Alice said.

'Feisty, and sweet," I repeated with a smile. We walked on in silence. I made note of the first sign that mentioned crepes I could find. I wasn't quite sure what they were, but I was determined on all new experiences. I'd go there tomorrow. The Cullens were insisting on paying for everything again, and not that we'd get our way, but I didn't even want to argue. We stopped on a little side street.

'This is it." Alice gestured for me to enter a small open doorway. The stairs curved up and we began to climb again.

"The third floor." Alice said.

"How old is this woman?" I said confusedly as I turned my head slightly to talk to Alice as I climbed.

Jasper answered instead. "We were wondering the same thing." I stopped at the third floor, and Jasper nodded toward the door marked with a number five. I knocked.

"Well, we're about to find out." I said. The door opened. The woman who answered was indeed small, but she was neither as hunched nor slow-moving as I was expecting. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she had very few wrinkles on her face. It was strange, for I'd guess her to be about 75, and yet something about her was much younger. She had a very fierce, very proud presence. I was tall, so comparatively she was almost a foot smaller than me, but she looked up right into my eyes. She was dressed like a gypsy, with a headscarf and even a few bangles. I spoke hesitantly, especially since my French was awful.

"Bon jour," I shook my head, and then tried again, "Pardon, no Bon soir- Madam Anica? Je m'appelle Leah." Madam Anica looked me over for a long second without moving.

"Stand up tall Leah, and let me see you." Clear, comprehensible, perfect English, although said with a thick accent I couldn't place. Her voice was as striking as her frame, not antagonistic, and yet with obvious authority. "You are very attractive," she told me baldly. "Don't under-estimate it." Alice smirked, happy to have someone agree with her.

She looked over to Jasper and Alice, and then jumped ever slow slightly. I made to catch her, but she recovered herself easily. Alice smiled, very used to human's reacting to her in the same manner.

"We are Jasper and Alice." Alice said, using her most soothing voice. Jasper had yet to cross far from the stairwell. He stepped slowly forward, and I saw the madam watch him. They wore identical expressions, which seemed overly wary to me. Then again, I was slowly becoming more used to Jasper's caution. Madam Anica turned then to enter her flat, motioning us to follow. I closed the door. It wasn't large, and we paused in her kitchen. I was a little stunned by Madam Anica's grace. She moved almost as silently as we did! It seemed only her bangles gave her away, a rhythmic chink played as she walked.

"You're room is two doors down, number 7." She said to me.

"Lucky 7," I said under my breath, but the madam heard me-

"Exactly, child. And I've already received your bags; they arrived just before you did."

"Oh! Thank you." The Cullens' had sent them along. Bella said it was easier, since I wanted to spend the day sightseeing. They were fast! Was there some kind of special vampire currier service? Sheesh. Jasper and Alice travelled light with one bag, which didn't impair then at all, of course.

Alice spoke then. "Her rent will be well-covered," she promised Madam Anica, "for as long as Leah wishes to stay."

Madam Anica responded curtly, "Yes, quite," and then turned to Jasper. "Are you fond of history, young man?" then she smiled as if amused by something she said.

Jasper looked uncomfortable as he responded, "I am a little."

"Tell me- when was D-Day?" She asked.

Alice looked quickly at Jasper, but he had schooled his face into a calm mask. "June 6, 1945." He answered.

"A day I remember well."

"Many do." Jasper responded. I hid my face. I knew that I was the only one in the room who didn't remember. Alice chimed in then-

"May I ask why you question my boyfriend?" she asked carefully.

"Shouldn't an old lady should be somewhat eccentric?" She answered Alice's question with a question of her own. No one answered.

"Let's do another- what year did your President Theodore Roosevelt get his military reputation?" She continued to quiz Jasper.

Jasper smiled this time. "1898, The 1st Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, or more popularly known as the Rough Riders, was largely organized by Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War." I could tell he was confident she didn't expect him to know so much, but Madam Anica only smiled.

"During the Civil War," she began, and Alice stiffened slightly- Jasper was more prepared, I kept my eyes on him, "during the American Civil War, the madam repeated, name a battle fought in 1863?"

Both Jasper and Alice looked stunned. I didn't react nearly as fast. "Come on Leah," Jasper snarled and was out the door much faster than he probably should have walked. Alice and I followed. Madam Anica did not follow us. We closed her door and stepped quickly down to another flight.

"She's not a vampire- how does she read minds?" Alice asked immediately.

"Read minds?" I was confused. "Of course she's not a vampire, I'd know by the smell."  
I said. She smelled like a human to me.

Jasper whispered, "You remember I was a Confederate soldier? He asked me.

"Yes. You think she saw that in your head?"

"1863 was the year I was changed." He said morosely.

No wonder Jasper reacted so strongly. I repeated Alice's question. "So how does she read minds?"

"Bella blocked vampires even before she became one, you already had visions," Jasper said to Alice, "she must be the same."

Madam Anica looked down from her floor then. "I greatly apologize for frightening you, please, come have some tea."

I didn't know who or what Madam Anica was, but I found it very strange that I should meet her of all people in France. I didn't think she was even French. It was as if Fate was once again directing my course. Maybe Madam Anica was. Suddenly I trusted her. It was an odd feeling to come over me, fighting my cautious canine instincts.

"Alright, I said. But no tea is necessary for my companions. They'll be on their way soon."

"Of course child, but we cannot linger over a goodbye; you must have your rest. I sense this more of you, of course, then of them."

Alice spoke then. "How exactly do you sense things?"

"I have my ways, just like you. But it is not wise to speak of such things out in the open." She walked back to her little flat then, and we followed inside. Like Madam Anica predicted, Jasper and Alice were soon on their way.

**Who is Madam Anica indeed? Freaky, no?**

**Next chapter we'll go back in time a bit to meet Uta again and see for ourselves what she said to Embry and then how they're getting on in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Perhaps we'll visit again with the madam and Leah, perhaps not.**


	7. Chapter 7

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**Thanks again to my Reviewers! Keep letting me know what you think! I've also started a new story, a Harry Potter one that I promise to have updated soon. Life keeps intruding. SIGH. I apologize for not catching a number of errors in chapter 6. I've fixed them. I know I said I'd get to Amsterdam in this chapter, but there turned out to be too much to write.**

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Ch 7-Cut Me Loose

"You can say what you mean/But it won't change a thing/I'm sick of the secrets/Stood on the edge, tied to the noose/you came along and you cut me loose/You came along and you cut me loose/You came along and you cut me loose." – _Amsterdam _byColdplay

POV: Embry

Time: The day following the disastrous morning

Place: London, England

I woke up early but I avoided Leah once again. I had barely spoken to her since her sudden rejection of me yesterday. I imagined she was still asleep. I stepped out to the living room. I still couldn't understand what changed so quickly, especially when she claimed it had nothing to do with me. I mostly sat around the room, wondering what I was going to do. Did I like Leah now? I knew my desire for her had only gotten worse all day. But if Leah insisted on separating herself from me, I didn't know how to stop her, or what that meant for my plans. I was so confused, and I was aggravated- my hands began to shake with my angry emotions. How could Leah do this to me? Didn't she know how much I was going through already? Didn't she care? I stopped my thoughts on a dime. I'd just have to be tougher than this. It obviously wasn't worth opening yourself up when some other twisted Wolf was just going to… Leah came out of her room then. She had gone up to Jacob when I had refused to come out of my room and I surmised she'd spent the day sight-seeing with the Cullens, or at least avoiding me.

"Good morning," she greeted me timidly.

I couldn't answer her calmly. Instead I stomped to the main door and wrenched it open, but before it closed I heard, "Em" I ignored her. I didn't quite know where I was going, perhaps to grab breakfast, so I headed down in the elevator. I ignored the attendant's greeting, certainly not in the mood to be friendly. I had to forcibly slow myself as I hurried through the lobby, which was already bustling with guests. I weaved in and out of a couple, but then this one stunning young blond woman just about slammed into me.

"Oh, excusez-moi!" She exclaimed.

I recognized her right away. I should have noted then that her body didn't feel so cold to me, but I was too surprised to notice. I focused more on the beauty of her face, in any case. "Uta?"

"Embry! What a surprise!" I noted that I still couldn't place her foreign accent, and then realized during our brief conversation at the museum that she never had told me where she was from anyway.

"You remember." I said, pleased.

"Of course," she said with a smile, "but you are staying here as well? How strange."

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"A week, we leave today, I'm afraid."

"So do I, actually." It was too bad I hadn't seen her around before. We moved out of the main lobby to sit on one of the oversized couches, somewhat hidden behind an enormous plant. She continued then.

"Are you traveling home?" Her face looked disappointed as she asked this.

"Oh no," I answered, and then smiled particularly. Disappointment did not become her at all, and I didn't want to see it. "I'm not really sure where I'm headed next actually."

"You will travel as we- my friends and I do, with the group I saw you with?

"Most of that group is off to Ireland to visit other friends."

"I see. What about Leah?" Uta had asked about Leah in our first meeting. It was obvious she was more similar to me then the rest of my group, thanks to our looks.

"It's time we go our own way." I said tensely.

"Oh my." She paused to gage my expression more clearly. "Do not worry, I understand well." She considered for a moment, and then asked, "Why not travel with us? We are headed to Amsterdam."

"I've never been there."

"How shocking! You must go."

"Perhaps I will."

She paused for a moment, and then said, "I would have invited Leah along of course, but you seem averse to traveling with her right now. I sense female troubles." She looked at me sympathetically.

"In a word, yes, though it's very new. It's complicated."

"Oh, forgive me, I didn't mean to pry. I only meant that you seemed to get on well at the museum from the little I saw."

"Yes, but that was before…" Uta was easy to talk to. I realized then that sometimes a stranger is the best confidant.

"Say no more. I went through the same situation myself once, and it worked out for the best, in the end. My friend Nic and I were together briefly, but in the end it was better if we were simply friends. But it was not a simple conclusion to make."

"No," was all I said, in agreement. I didn't want to tell her that I was nowhere near that kind of conclusion. I was still far too angry and hurt. I wasn't convinced yet that Leah was merely a friend, and definitely not a sister like the rest of my brothers. She apparently didn't agree. I clenched my jaw. Uta didn't ask about my silence, instead she said-

"I have to return to my room to pack my things. I'm travelling with my friends Nic and Rodika. You are welcome to come along."

"With Nic and…" I questioned.

"Yes," she laughed softly at my question. Rodika and Nic are far more suited for each other. Rodika and I have been close girlfriends for a long time. We shall meet with another in Amsterdam. It would be nice for poor Nic to not be surrounded by women."

I smirked. "Most men don't have a problem with that."

"You mean most single men. Rodika would tear him to shreds," she responded, smiling, and looking me dead in the eye. It was almost a challenge. I laughed at her assessment.

"Alright." I agreed impulsively, 'I'll go with you, why not?"

Where else would I go anyway? I wasn't like Leah, with the need to see all biggest historical sites and push as much history in my brain as I could. I didn't have anything to search for in Europe, now that Leah insisted on pulling away.

"Wonderful! " We exchanged room numbers then, and I could tell she was impressed that I was staying in a suite.

"Our accommodations will not be quite so elaborate in Amsterdam I'm afraid, my friends and I secured these rooms thanks to a local friend of ours. Now I'm very glad we did, otherwise we wouldn't have met again."

She shot me an enormous smile. I wondered where all my confidence was coming from, and then winced briefly as I figured it had to come from Leah's interest. It had sparked something in me. I wasn't usually this smooth, at all.

"Trust me, it doesn't matter. Are we headed to the airport today or tomorrow?"

"Actually, we go by train. We prefer it that way. We'll leave for St Pancras station this very evening."

"Sounds good." I'll call your room in an hour. It won't take me long to pack and say goodbye to my group." I said. This was perfect, the sooner I left, the better. We stood up.

"I'm looking forward to this Embry, what an exciting development!"

I played it far cooler than I could ever have expected. "We'll have some fun." I said simply. She left, and I really took in her clothes for the first time as she headed for the elevator. She reminded me of the Cullens, but perhaps her style wasn't quite so inconspicuous. Her bright purple dress was somewhat low cut, and then my eyes moved to her legs. I couldn't decide if Leah's were nicer, it was too close. Both were impressive. Uta's were longer. I didn't really note how tall she was before, but as I watched her go, I realized she was easily as tall as Leah. With a pair of high heels, she could almost look me in the eye. The shoes she was wearing were heeled, but not very high. She didn't need the help. I wondered if she ever modeled. She had to be 6'2!" Wow. I went to another elevator, up to the highest floors.

Leah wasn't there when I came into our suite and I immediately started packing. I supposed she had gone out with the Cullens again. I didn't quite know what I would say to Jacob, or how much Leah had even told him. I didn't worry about the others; their opinions simply didn't matter as much. I wondered briefly if anyone would try to object to me taking off with strangers. It wasn't like I couldn't take care of myself, I thought wryly. But saying goodbye to Jake would be difficult. He was amazingly calm that morning, and accepting. I think he honestly would have had no problem with a relationship between Leah and me, if it had worked out. He was worried about _our_ feelings, and the pack. I didn't blame him. I got angry at Leah again for making it such a big deal. If it didn't work out between us, so be it, but how could she know already? I paused for a second as I unknowingly shredded the shirt I was packing. Whoops. I'd ask the Cullens for enough money for my travels. They seemed willing enough to spend it, after all. I made a note to upgrade my new friends train tickets to whatever was the nicest section. It was the least I could do, since they were planning on showing me Europe, it seemed. I finished packing and called Uta. She picked up right away.

"Hello Uta, it's Embry."

"Bonjour, mon nouvel ami!" She said. Good thing I took French in school.

"Bonjour mon cher," I heard her giggle, and I switched back to English, "When does our train leave?

"18:45- 6:45pm. It takes a little less than 2 hours to get to Brussels."

I was surprised. "Belgium? I would have thought we'd take the train to Paris to pick up the Eurorail."

"The Eurostar can go all the way to Brussels and we are going in that direction, so why not take it all the way?"

"So we'll change in Brussels." I asked.

"Yes, every hour there is a train to Amsterdam. It takes only one hour and it does not require a reservation. We can eat there as well, we Europeans eat later, you know."

"Sounds great, as long as there's enough food." I said.

"Oh there will be." She responded.

I'm going to buy one of those multi-country passes." I said.

I could hear a smile in her voice. "That is probably best; we never know where we might end up," For a moment, I felt as if I was missing a joke, "shall we meet downstairs at 5pm?"

"Sure." That gave me a good 6 hours to figure out how I'd say goodbye to Jake and the Cullens, but also plenty of time to obsess over Leah's words, again. Oh well. It's not like I was really going to escape them any time soon. I wasn't stupid.

"Until tonight," Uta said, sounding a little excited, I thought.

"See you then." I said as I hung up the phone. A little half-smile flashed across my own face. I immediately picked up the phone again.

"Jake?"

"Embry, what's up?" His guard was up immediately, I wasn't surprised. He wasn't out with the Cullens it seemed, if they were even out. "Leah's not here," he continued edgily.

"She with the Cullens?" I didn't really care, but nor did I know what to say either.

"Yes, they're all out. Leah hinted you might want to talk to me today."

"Well yeah, I do."

"You better come upstairs."

'I'll be up in a flash."

"Right." I hung up the phone, and left my room. I used the staircase; it was faster for me than the elevator. I didn't have much patience. It took no time at all to get to Jake's room, even though I wasn't close to full speed. Jake opened the door; I walked in and sat on a chair. He sat opposite me. We had an awkward moment, which was awful. I'd never had a problem talking to Jake before.

'So I'm going to Amsterdam." I blurted out.

"Amsterdam? What's in Amsterdam?"

"Pot, prostitution, beer… or so I hear…" I tried to lighten the mood. It didn't help much.

He did crack a little as he answered me, "You know what I mean."

"Well, I met this girl at the British Museum," I began; Jake surprised me by cutting me off.

"Oh the model look-a-like I saw you chatting with? I was wondering about that. I didn't get a good look at her, and you know me, imprinted. She was pretty, I assume."

"Absolutely. Well, I ran into her this morning, or she almost ran into me. She's staying here in the hotel."

"You're kidding." He said.

"No. She invited me to travel with her little group, one more man and woman, apparently firmly together. So I thought, 'what the hell?' she seems nice enough, and that's where they were headed next. They're travelling around on the Eurorail apparently."

"You're looking for a distraction." He said seriously.

"I suppose, yeah. What else can I do? I don't want to go to Ireland with the rest of you, and it's not like I'm going to be able to figure out who my Dad is while I'm away. I'm just sick of so much drama all the time. It's exhausting. I'm saying goodbye to the Cullens, and then I'm out at 5pm tonight."

"Tonight?" He opened his mouth, but then seemed to switch thoughts, "What will you tell Leah?"

"The truth."

"Embry, I'm really worried about her. Now that I've thought about it I think it might have been nice for it to work out between the two of you, and I mean that. But she seems to know it won't. I'm going to sound like my Dad, and like Bella…" he paused for a moment, pulled back to a different time, "but I'm telling you both the same thing- do what you need to do, and come back. I'll be pissed off frankly if you ruin the peace in my pack. I care about you both too much."

"You're a great Alpha Jake, and a great friend, I'll miss you." I said, a little mournfully.

He gave me a real hug for once. "You're one of my best friends, remember that."

"Of course. Well, until we phase again!" I chuckled.

"Sure, sure," He said easily.

I left him. The Cullens came back in the afternoon, and Bella called me. She expressed surprise over my departure, but wished me well. She said that Leah was with Jake. I came upstairs to wish them all a goodbye.

"I'm thinking of suggesting Paris to Leah." Edward said.

"Huh," was all I replied.

Around 4:30 Leah finally returned. She was walking on eggshells around me, that much was obvious. "I got a surprise when I walked into the lobby this morning." I said, finally talking to her.

"Oh?"

I wasn't put off by the lack of real response, I kept going- "Remember that girl Uta I was talking to in the museum?"

"What about her?" she asked slowly.

"She was the surprise. I literally almost walked into her in the lobby. The really weird thing was that I didn't mention where I was staying. She's here too." I watched her face carefully, I couldn't help it.

"Oh." Again- no response. I kept speaking.

"She told me she's traveling with a few of her girlfriends around Europe, just hoping on the Euro rail, that sort of thing, and she did invite you as well…" I left out Nic's presence on purpose.

She interrupted me. "But now you're traveling with them."

"It's better this way." I spoke quickly to mask what I was really thinking.

"Really? That's quite a change from yesterday." she said, her tone full of malice.

That made me see red. "Wait a second, who refused who yesterday?" I yelled.

"Is it really necessary to throw another woman in my face?" She screamed at me. She lowered her voice, but it was only replaced by tears. She tried to speak through them- "I'm sorry, you're right. But it's not like I don't care, Embry, you don't have to be so callous. Do you realize you've replaced Sam in my heart now? After one night? Don't you realize what a change that is?"

No I hadn't. Part of me warmed a little to hear her admit it out loud, but what did it really matter? "And yet you're still going." I spoke the truth. "I don't understand it."

She took a deep breath. "I believe an age old cliché is applicable here." she said. "It's not you. It's me," she said sadly.

Oh, I feel so much better now! "And I'm as satisfied with that as most are who hear it." That was obvious.

"I know." She took another deep breath, trying to slow her tears. "Listen, I know you were only trying to tell me where you were going, I know that…"

No, she knew me better than that. I wasn't going to hide. "I wasn't holding back what I had to say though. I'm still furious, Leah."

She only nodded. There was a long silence. I had to tell her where I'd be.

"We're going to Amsterdam."

"Amsterdam?" she repeated blankly.

"I told Uta I'd never gone. She told me that was a crime. So we're going."

"I know I'm the last one you'll want to hear from right now, but I hope you'll contact me if you really need to…" She was trying to be sensitive I guess, but this was too much-

I cut her off. "Now I'm really insulted Leah." I couldn't help the absolute snarl that broke from me. She thought I didn't want to see her? That I wouldn't even contact her if something went wrong? What kind of Protector did she take me for???

She backtracked quickly. "Oh God, what was I thinking?!? "I'm… oh, God, I'm so sorry. The pack's going to throw me out when we get back- maybe I should just live alone a while? I'm simply the worst..."

I sighed. I knew she hadn't really meant that, and it honestly hurt me a little to see her panic. I stopped her. I had to give her another facet of truth, one I'd been avoiding. "You're not. Don't Leah, it's just- I thought that maybe I'd found why I hadn't imprinted, that I found an answer for once instead of another question, and I don't see how you could give up so fast."

"I have to go with my instincts, Em." She flinched at her slip, but I didn't correct her. It didn't matter, really. She breathed out a little easier. "Something is telling me there is more to it. There's more for you too. Our story's not over."

I wasn't satisfied. "Yeah well, good luck with that," I said. "I have to say goodbye to Jake and meet Uta." There was a knock on the door then and I opened it. A porter was there with a rolling hanging cart.

"You too. Check in when you feel able. Goodbye Em." She looked about to cry again. Why did she have to get so upset? I wanted to make her happy for crying out loud! She deserved it! She was too damn stubborn. At this moment, I hated her for that. But I couldn't not say goodbye. I could only hope she'd think of me. I stepped forward and hugged her. Then I gave her a small kiss. I couldn't help it, having her in my arms for far too brief a moment. She didn't stop me at all. But I had to pull away or I wouldn't leave. As I pulled away, I whispered,

"Goodbye Lee." It seemed appropriate, somehow.

The porter already had my bags on the cart. He followed me out the door, and we headed downstairs to meet my new traveling party.

**So, now we're up to speed- Leah's off in Paris with some mysterious Gypsy type, and Embry seems determined to forget her. I'm not going to make any predictions for the next chapter, since I should know myself better by now. Thanks for your support, and let me know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**Ok, now here comes my big apology. I haven't updated any of my stories in weeks, I know, but I've had a number of new things starting including two different classes. It's a lot of projects to keep track of. Unfortunately I fell into a block which only got worse as time went on. Thankfully I managed to plan out a few chapters recently, so look for more updates! I'm sorry to leave you in the lurch my lovely readers, but I promise you, don't back out on this story now because it's about to get a whole lot more interesting…**

Ch 8- Where Do I Go?

"_You said move on/where do I go?" –Thinking of You, Katy Perry_

POV: Leah

Time: About 2:30pm on Day 10 of the trip, 3 days after Leah's arrival in France.

Place: Montmartre, Paris, France

I sat in the café looking out into the street, and Anica, as she had asked me to call her, sat and looked at me. She had a very intense gaze; I could sense it without looking at her.

"What is troubling you?" She asked me.

"Nothing, I'm worried about Embry is all." I hadn't told her everything about that had passed between Embry and me of course or what the consequences really were, because in truth, I hadn't had to say much. Anica was very intuitive. She had taken me all over Montmartre, and indeed to the show at the Moulin Rouge. I was a little embarrassed during the more mature scenes, but Anica seemed thrilled at the excuse to return. She delighted over introducing me to what had looked like every artist who showed their work in the streets, (because she seemed to know them all) and the other store owners, after which she bought my first crepe- I reasoned that nutella must be a gift from God. We had spent only part of one day, this morning, outside Montmartre. A walk along the Seine and a visit to Notre Dame had filled our morning. Perhaps the stillness of the great cathedral was responsible for my mood. I had spent a good half an hour just staring at the beautiful Rose windows, and Anica had let me meditate on my thoughts the whole way back. She broke the silence again.

"LI-a," she refused to pronounce my name any another way, "You must not worry about him. You were sure of your choice?"

"Yes," I said carefully, "but I'm still not sure why. The more I think about it, the more I'm confused. Why not Embry? What's so wrong with him that he couldn't make me happy?"

"It is rarely about one person. The future is far more complicated than that, young one. I would know," She answered me.

I puzzled over what she could mean by that and a brief glimpse of Alice flashed through my head. We were finished with lunch, and only waiting for our check. The waitress appeared and I passed Anica a few of the Euros I had. We walked slowly out the doors, Anica giving the owner a kiss on each cheek as we passed. As we stepped out into the street, Anica spoke in a gentle voice.

"Do not underestimate your own instincts; it is you who know your destiny best. I do not think it was an accident that you came to Paris now. Do not rush yourself, it sounds as if Embry needs some time away. Perhaps he will even find his way back to you." She could tell by my face that I was still skeptical.

"Thanks," I told her. My voice was flat. I was being polite.

"Now I need my rest, I must return to my flat. You need not accompany me."

"Alright," I agreed. Perhaps I'd look around at the artwork again. Anica turned and headed up the street. She had enormous amounts of energy for a woman her age, but right then she did seem tired. I let her go.

****

POV: Embry

Time: London to Brussels, Brussels to Amsterdam (Back to the evening of day 6)

"Thank you again Embry," Rodika told me.

I bought a multi-country pass the way I had planned, and I also held to my internal promise to upgrade our seats. We were seated in the Business Premier class of the Eurostar. We'd had a really fast check-in and ordered our dinner, in spite of what Uta had said. Now we were finally settled, seated across from each other at a table for 4. I sat down first and slid toward the window seat. The seat wasn't so bad, but I still had to duck a little. I was used to it. I couldn't help seeing that Uta hurried to take the seat next to me, because of course she would, the others were a couple, but I smiled anyway. She gave me a small smile in return; perhaps afraid she was showing too much? Rodika sat opposite me, and Nic took the last.

"It's no problem." I said.

Rodika seemed the opposite of Uta is some ways; she was darker, including her skin and hair. Uta was more outgoing as far as I could tell, but there was fierceness in the eyes of both women that seemed to express an ability to persevere through any danger. I didn't know if they had experienced any hardship or danger in their lives and I knew it could be nothing close to my own, but I had the sense that Rodika, especially, knew how to handle herself. Nic was also quiet. He did not seem to speak very much. He almost reminded me of myself, although he seemed built more like Quil. That made him pretty muscular for a human, actually. As I thought this, I looked at the women more closely. All three of them were similar, and really different, all at once. I wondered if Uta and Rodika were somehow related. I supposed I just wasn't used to Europeans.

"So where are you guys from anyway?" I asked.

"I was wondering when you would ask that." Nic seemed amused.

"Well?" I prodded.

"It's sort of complicated." Uta began slowly, "we're all from Romania, I suppose. I haven't actually been back there in years."

"Romania…really?" I kept my tone light, but my thoughts immediately jumped to Stefan and Vladimir, or as we werewolves liked to think of them, Dracula One and Dracula Two. Of course my thoughts would jump there, but it wasn't like all Romanians were immortal! Nic was answering my question, so I paid attention.

"Rodika and I went home last year. We travel often though, Uta is right. Rodika and I keep a flat in the outskirts of Prague, though."

"Where?" I wasn't that good at my geography yet.

"Czech Republic." Rodika said.

"Oh, right," I turned to Uta, "so you speak French mostly? Where's home for you?"

"Oh here and there, you know, many people speak French, It's not really important. Tell us about your tribe!" She answered. I sensed that she didn't like talking about her background. Well neither did I, to be truthful. I supposed I could share the version of myself that I'd known well for 16 years, before chaos took over.

"I've lived on the same small reservation in Washington all my life. I'm a Quileute." I said this with confidence, despite my once believing otherwise. I fit in firmly with my tribe now, it was natural.

"Your features are beautiful." Uta told me, and I almost blushed. I laughed inwardly at myself instead. Right then my phone rang, and I checked to see who it was. I thanked God silently for caller ID. I wouldn't be in the mood to deal with Jake's concern for a while yet.

"Ignoring your old friends?" Nic asked me.

"Yea, sort of," I admitted, "I'd rather hang out with my new ones, at the moment." My response earned me smirks from Nic and Rodika, and Uta laughed aloud. I joined in.

"So what is Washington like?" Uta continued to quiz me.

"Rainy, green… boring, really." Well it was, and would be if leeches didn't try to kill us every so often. "Europe's much more interesting."

We were interrupted again, this time by food, and I was faced with a problem. I had ordered a huge dinner by normal proportions, but the plates in front of me still seemed like nothing. I didn't have to hide my enormous appetite in front of the Cullens. How would I deal with this? I was too hungry to think about it for long. None of my companions hesitated in digging into their dinners either. It seemed the ladies didn't have any qualms there. Rodika seemed to read my thoughts somehow, or perhaps it was the plate of food, because she said-

"Oh…we will be meeting my friend Fayina in Amsterdam, and she won't have eaten, so we'll be having another late dinner, for her sake. Feel free to order a desert then, or something else. You still seem like a growing boy."

"Hey I'm not that young," I protested with a smile, and another inward laugh. Too bad Leah wasn't here to… I cut myself off. Then I was glad Edward wasn't here, either. I didn't want to think about Leah. That's why I'd left, wasn't it? I pulled myself back to the present and finished my food. We'll that was one problem solved. My phone rang again, so I turned it off. I'd call Jacob back, later; to tell him I'd gotten in alright. I didn't want little Ness to worry either. Poor girl was probably confused. I hadn't spared any of them much of a thought when I took off, but they had to understand even if they weren't happy. It was too hard.

The rest of the trip passed by pretty fast; I mostly looked out the window when there was enough light (I was careful not to stare out when it would appear to be pure black) and chatted with Uta. She kept smiling my way, but she still looked cautious. It seemed like she was fighting herself, to me. We didn't need anyone to help us with our bags as we boarded the next train. My companions packed about as little as I did, but I wasn't surprised, with all the traveling they seemed to do. I was able to eat a snack once aboard, to avoid drawing attention to myself by over-ordering later. Rodika stepped out into another car while Nic was in the restroom about half-way through the trip, and I was very obviously left alone with Uta. I took a chance and reached for her hand, but she pulled it back, turning away from me. She looked back quickly.

'I'm sorry," she replied immediately. "I'm just…" She was having trouble finishing.

"Don't worry about it." I was glad she pulled it back. It wasn't like me to forget to be careful about my temperature. I wanted to put my arm around her and comfort her, but I doubted she would like to burn up. She was more anxious now. We still couldn't ignore immediate chemistry. And as much as I wanted Leah, even she wanted me to move on. Could I? Uta certainly had the looks. I'd figure it out. I leaned back to give her room without really pushing her away, and she seemed to relax in response.

"Thank you," was all she said.

"You're welcome." I went back to looking out the window. Once Nic and Rodika came back the three of them returned to quizzing me about America, my family, tribal legends, and more haphazard questions, like what I was interested in. I answered the last set of questions the most honestly. We all focused more on Amsterdam when we pulled into the city. I think the canals are all connected somehow. I didn't expect to see the houseboats, but I supposed I should have realized it if I thought about it. Despite what I'd told Leah, Jake, and everyone else really, I wasn't quite sure what I was planning on doing in Amsterdam, and I had no idea why Uta, Rodika, and Nic were traveling to Amsterdam either. Was this where their friend lived? What was her name? Fayina…right. Lots of Russian going around, or was it Romanian? Probably both, I assumed.

"So, where are we staying?" I asked.

"In a small hostel. We don't normally splurge on hotels." Uta said.

"Fine by me. I could sleep on the ground if I had to." I said, grinning.

The three smiled with me. "So could we." Nic said.

Soon the train was pulling into the platform and we got our bags together once again. We were heading to the main exit, when Rodika spoke to me.

"I'm afraid Nic is the only one who speaks Dutch."

"No problem." I turned to Nic and continued, "Lead the way."

And he led us to the tram. I didn't see how the tickets worked; I just passed Nic some money. It was easier. We hopped on the number 4 tram. We passed more canals and coffee houses, some larger, more elaborate architecture, and more bikes than I have ever seen in my life! I supposed the flat ground made it easy. The ride wasn't that long. We got off right near the hostel.

"We're meeting Fayina at a local pub, right nearby." Uta said, "But first we'll drop our stuff off. It could be a late night." She winked. I didn't need her hint, it was obvious.

We checked into our hostel, and the difference between this place and the last hotel was of course, insane, but I was prepared. Since I joined the group we'd need an extra bed, but we didn't bother to sort it out since we were in a hurry. They had rental lockers for our stuff, so we put our things away; the girls did their freshening up in the communal bathrooms, (which didn't take nearly as long as I expected it to- they're not fussy, really) Nic and I changed shirts quickly, and we were off on foot to meet up with Fayina. Back on the street I got a good look at what they were wearing. They'd changed into mini-skirts and these bright tops. Rodika looked about as pretty as Uta, but I didn't stare long, no need to get on Nic's bad side. Neither was really the makeup type I supposed, and they didn't really need it anyway. Uta looked gorgeous. She started letting loose a little more as we walked along a main street I sure couldn't pronounce, right on the canal, and kept up a pace that was much faster than the other humans. Rodika called out-

"Uta, we have time, calm down!" Of course I was keeping up easily. Uta suddenly grabbed my hand with a wide smile across her face.

"Come along!" She enthused. I walked a little faster. Rodika and Nic fell behind. They were good at disappearing, I noted to myself with a little smirk- nice perception.

As we came upon the pub we found how far behind everyone we really were. We found seats at the bar. Apparently Fayina was not there yet. We were on the lookout for a tall thin girl with straight jet-black hair, or so I was told.

"Think Catherine Zeta-Jones, but younger." Nic said.

"Do you hang out with any ugly women?" I asked him incredulously.

"No." He said seriously, but then broke off with a chuckle- "Only the beauties." He smiled at both women and put his arm around Rodika.

"Beauty indeed," I added quickly. Uta's face turned a little red, not nearly the color Bella's used to, but I noticed. Rodika mostly kept the lookout leaving me to talk with Nic and Uta. Nic ordered our beer. I still had the fake passport Jasper had forged for me, and to tell the truth, I was physically more the age on my passport, 27, then I was technically, so it wasn't much of a lie. I drank more I did in London, because I was honestly more interested in the beer here, I wasn't doing the ordering, and I couldn't stop my mind from dwelling on the night I'd gone out with Leah, so I wanted to drown myself even more. We moved to a table in the corner after about 20 minutes of waiting, and ordered some more food. I wasn't the only one who was hungry. I started getting a bit concerned when 40 minutes passed, but Rodika told me not to worry. 30 minutes later Uta dragged me off to a corner. She wrapped herself pretty firmly around me before I could stop her but it was obvious that she was drunk. Her skin was seemed like it was oddly flushed. Was it the alcohol? If she noticed my heat, she didn't say anything. My thoughts were a little confused. I supposed I was beginning to get a little tipsy myself; something that never happened back home due to lack of real drinking opportunity, my size, and Sam's stringent control of the pack. I wasn't about to let myself just fool around. Leah was different, we naturally watched out for each other. I did kiss Uta a little bit though; I wasn't that sober, or that stupid to ignore those looks. It was perfect to have my melancholy mind wiped blank. Uta was a hell of a kisser. It was a little while later that I gently pushed Uta away from me. She didn't object, but she didn't really let go either. Rodika and Nic took the opportunity to check in. Suddenly Nic's cell phone rang.

"That must be Fayina," I said, suddenly remembering why we were here.

Uta straightened up a little at my words. Nic answered the phone and stepped out onto the street so he could hear, and surprisingly, Uta followed him, but she disappeared into the bathroom. Rodika and I sat back at our now cleared table. I must have looked concerned again.

"Fayina's done this before." Rodika told me, "I was practically expecting it. That's why I wanted to go to a pub, so we would have somewhere good to wait."

I just nodded. We sat for a while in silence. Nic and Uta returned together, and neither one looked happy.

"Fayina missed her train." She looked significantly at Rodika when she said this, "She's stuck in her station till tomorrow."

"I thought she was in Amsterdam already!" I exclaimed, "We could have met at the station!"

"I know, but she had a business trip farther east that took a few extra days. She can be a bit distracted. I suppose we'd better leave." Nic said.

"You go. I want to stay with Embry." Uta chimed in, her face brightening.

"Be careful." Rodika told her.

Uta raised her eyebrows at Rodika, but I said seriously, "I'll get her back." Uta pushed Nic and Rodika out the door, and they left.

We didn't stay at the pub very long; we paid the bill and began walking again along the canal. I asked about places she'd been, and she commented she knew Amsterdam rather well, because of Fayina, but had never managed to pick up the language. Then it seemed to be her turn for interrogation again. So far I had managed to avoid saying much about my immediate family, but Uta questioned me directly- "What's your father like?"

"I don't know, he left when I was little." I was intentionally vague, once again.

"I'm sorry, it's just, I don't have a father either," She said somberly, "I was just wondering…"

"It's ok." I cut her off, but not too harshly. It was nice to have someone who understood. And she was just curious, after all.

We didn't speak much as we walked along the canal. Sometimes she would stop to kiss my cheek, or my hand. Her skin was a little cooler. She continued to ignore my heat. I followed her lead, kissing her forehead, or her hair. Rodika's words repeated in my head, "_We have time, calm down." _She was exactly right. We looped around and returned to the hostel, and I remembered Fayina was supposed to be staying with us. The hostel had a 24 hour reception, the product of the lively night scene. Nic and Rodika were already checked into a private room with a double bed, and Uta and Fayina were supposed to share another private room, with twin beds. I offered to cover the other bed so that Uta could have her own room as well, but she just laughed and suggested that I take it instead.

"Are you sure?" I was a little more than intrigued by her wanting to share, but it seemed to me that alcohol continued to affect her judgment tonight.

"Of course! The rooms always switch around anyway; we can always change our minds." Her next words came out in a rush, "It's not like we'll be up for much tonight anyway!" She broke off looking shocked at her own boldness: her cheeks turned a scarlet that would have done Bella proud this time, but she finally smiled, so I agreed. We checked into our room, and I found to my chagrin that she was right. I was tired. It wasn't long after that we were both asleep.

**I finally finished this chapter! Woo hoo! I've decided to adopt my friend's strategy and give out a preview to whoever reviews my chapters. So no general hints here! Mwahahaha! :D Thanks always for reading, and for putting up with my writer's block, especially if you're still around now!**


	9. Chapter 9

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. **

**So I'm glad this isn't months later! Yay! Thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. This song's got some foreshadowing, methinks, I know nothing about it though, I found it in a search…: D**

_Doing Good_

"In the way this strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 9- Awaiting Discovery

_Do you believe what some might say can't be could be reality/Let seven be the one for me; six chapters of life laced with mystery…awaiting discovery/Immune you become a war to be one the soul of a voice…Let the voice of the soul be free/For most it does not come easily/For some it comes with pain/From a thought to a living sight/For some it's a life for some a game/There are things in life worth fighting for/And some things are better off let go/A dream secured long ago or yesterday/Close to the top there's no looking down/When you believe/Do you believe?/If you believe/You must believe!/If I was paid for disappointments I would be a wealthy man/The magic lives in sincerity, in truth, behind the/thoughts I choose to stand…Awaiting Discovery_

_-Believe, by Control Denied_

POV: Leah

Time: Day 11 of the trip, the day after chapter 8.

Location: Montmartre, Paris, France

I walked out of the flat to explore some of the paintings the artists were showing, not really in a hurry to get anywhere. I realized I was doing this almost every day, like Anica had taken to taking a nap every afternoon, though she was still able to keep up with me most of the time. Our nights were very quiet. She spoke often about wishing some of her grandchildren were here to take me out, but most days, I wasn't in the mood anyway. I did wonder what they were like. Mostly, I tried to figure out what I would say to Embry, and what I had meant by breaking things off so quickly. Anica was very helpful in my continued sightseeing quest. This morning she'd taken me to the Musee D'Orsay, and I was surprised at how many paintings I recognized from my art class, like Monet, Degas, and Van Gogh, including my favorite- his painting of his room at Arles. There were many others. It was cool to see them in person. Plus the whole museum is in an old railway station, which meant the architecture of the building, looked like a museum piece by itself. Anica retired soon after our lunch at a nearby restaurant. I would really miss baguettes when I left Paris, whenever that would be. Next we were going to the Louvre. Just the thought of the Mona Lisa had me excited. I kept walking through the artists little booths, and headed toward the Sacre-Coeur. People watching was a fascinating activity in Montmartre. I thought absently of picking up some postcards to send to my Mom and Seth. Actually, I figured I'd probably need a bunch for all my pack brothers. I did have a good family there, despite my feelings of exclusion. It's always easier to come to that conclusion when you're thousands of miles away! I was about to walk into a boutique when my cell phone rang shrilly from my bag. I answered it as quickly as possible in public.

"Hello?" I asked.

"It's Jake, Leah," he answered gruffly. The connection was rather poor. I could hear wind whipping on his end.

"What's the matter?" I asked under my breath, somewhat panicked already. I hadn't spoken to Jake since I called the day after I arrived and he wouldn't be calling unless there was a problem. "Is it Nessie, or the…Italians?" I prayed especially for Jake's sake that it wasn't the former, though I had no wish for any interactions between my new family and the Volturi either. The Cullens had left to keep the Volturi from returning to Forks, after all.

"Neither, thankfully," he answered quickly and I breathed out, "but there is a serious problem." I breathed in again. "I'm going to have to get all of us _together" _he emphasized, and I knew he didn't mean physically. My panic got worse. Where could I possibly phase in Paris? Jake was still speaking, "Embry finally called me to say he got in ok but now he's ignoring his phone again. I'll keep trying. I don't even know if he's still in Amsterdam, honestly."

"That's not like him." He'd promised to stay in touch. It had me troubled. But I knew he would call eventually, he must think Jake was just worrying too much after having spoke to him two days ago. What could have changed really, so fast, anyway? I tried to banish my worries and focus. "You'd rather tell us all at once." I guessed.

"Yes, it's about home…We're out in the Irish countryside, everyone sends their love, by the way, and I had the opportunity to really check in with Sam. That's when he told me… You're still in Paris?" He finished.

"Yes, but perhaps I convince Anica to show me some countryside too- a nice vineyard perhaps?" I mused.

"Good. I'll call you tomorrow. If I can't get a hold of Embry by then I'm going to contemplate killing him."

"Don't." I said seriously.

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried. And I'd still rather discuss this as one, you know?" he said soberly, "I miss us."

"Of course, I do too. We'll work together Jake, we'll be fine." I said. He switched topics, and I didn't press the issue.

"So, tell me more about your new landlord." He sounded more like himself, and I smiled.

"She's really something, fiery, almost. I hope I become just like her. She knows things about people. Remember what I told you about our first meeting?" I had told Jake all about it.

"Jasper thought she had some sort of magic or extra power, right? Must have freaked out the bloodsuckers…" he said with a laugh.

"I think it did, but I'm not sure if he's right or not." Anica was hard to nail down. She was…unique. Not quite your average fortune teller, somehow. She seemed more than that- like how Alice wasn't a normal vampire. I couldn't figure out what else Anica was hiding.

"Well, at least you like her." Jake said. His tone changed. "Oof!" I heard his exaggerated grunt. "As much as I'd love to stand and chat, Nessie just slammed into my leg," he explained.

"I figured as much from the grunt."

I could hear Nessie's giggles and her demands for Jake's attention. She wanted to know who he was talking to. She had gotten much more comfortable speaking aloud in recent weeks. Suddenly her voice was much clearer.

"Aunt Leah!" My name was half a squeal.

"Hello gorgeous girl. It's nice of Jake to share the phone." I said. Another giggle in response.

"I took it from him," she told me proudly. "I jumped and grabbed it from his hand." I laughed this time.

"You keep him in line now, you hear?" I said.

"When are you coming back Aunt Leah?" She asked gravely.

"I don't know. But you watch out for your family for me, ok? I'm counting on you." I told her.

"I will. I can protect them." There was no doubt in her voice.

"I know. I'm proud of you Nessie, so are your family, especially your parents and Jake."

"I'm proud of you too Aunt Leah. Come back soon!" She said, and then handed the phone back to Jake. I smiled. I heard Jake tell her to find Bella.

"I wish you wouldn't challenge her like that. She's still a baby, you know." He grumbled.

"She can more than live up to any challenge I give her. I have faith in her."

"Of course I do too," he answered me quickly, "it's just…"

"She's your other half Jake, of course you'd agonize." I interrupted, "we won't let her down." The question flitted through my head, who was _my _other half? Embry? Someone else? I pushed it away.

"You're right. Man, I wish we were La Push right now. I feel like I'm missing a part of myself."

"You are, Jacob, and so am I. Tomorrow we five will talk, and it'll be just like old times."

"Not exactly. I haven't told any of the pack about, well, and I'm not looking forward to Seth and Quil's reaction …"

"Especially Seth." I interrupted again, though this time in agreement. "But they were always going to find out sometime. Obviously I'm still far more anxious about Embry. I screwed that up so badly…"

"Let Embry go and then talk about it." Easier said than done. "This was always going to be complicated, but we'll deal. We always do," he paused. "I have to go."

I hurried to stop him. "So you promise everyone's ok at home, right? I'll kill you if you're keeping something about Seth from me."

"I know you would, I'm not that dense. It's complicated, but I promise you, Seth is perfectly healthy and active. Sam told me he's making sure he's going to class."

I breathed easier once again. "Thanks Jake," I grinned once more, "Goodbye, oh fearless leader." It had been a while since I teased him like that. It was nice. He chuckled.

"Hang in there Beta," he said, "until tomorrow."

'Right." I finished. Too bad he couldn't see my eyes roll. He hung up first. I groaned. There was too much complication, again! So much for things quieting down! I decided against heading into the shop after all and decided to head into the city. There was so much of Paris that I hadn't even seen, and I could read French and follow a map well enough to do some of my own sightseeing. I didn't want to think about why Jacob had called, because I would worry, and I figured I should decide exactly what I was going to say to Embry, because I might be speaking to him as soon as tomorrow. But I wasn't sure where in Paris I wanted to go. There were multiple metro stops nearby. I stopped in my tracks- which one should I take? I decided I hadn't seen nearly enough of the Champs-Elyssees, but then I immediately wished Alice were here to guide me. I quickly changed course. I looked at my map and saw an ad for a boat tour on the Seine. It was departing at the Port de la Bourdonnaise, so I changed at the Invalides for the stop at Champ De Mars, right at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. I had some time to kill before the next tour left so I just sat by the water.

Embry was not going to want to talk to me. But he wouldn't ignore Jake. I focused my thoughts on the time I'd been spending with Anica; her immediate confidence in me. For the first time I'd wandered around museums and attractions for me. I wasn't worried about Seth, or Sam, or my parents… I wasn't living for my pack. I'd been so angry in La Push because I'd always relied on others, especially the men in my life to give my life meaning, yet there was never a perfect fit. The impulse to reach out and protect "my men" was imbedded in me, and when I needed help, I'd always relied on them. And yet I was still so lonely sitting by this astounding river. Knowing how much I'd hurt Embry with my sudden epiphany had me practically doubled over in pain. He didn't deserve it. I still wasn't sure how I would tell him, but I was getting a new feeling that maybe the impulse to be with Embry wasn't wrong, just premature. Everything happened so quickly and my mind never caught up. Leave it to the female to have to over think the situation, I thought, dryly. For Embry, he was just taking it one logical step at a time. I used to be logical. Now I didn't know anymore.

I bought my ticket and joined with the other tourists boarding the boat. It was sunny and still fairly warm for September. I'd picked a good day for sightseeing on the water. I stood outside and off to myself. Most of the boat was glassed over, the seats indoors. I didn't want or need cover. I stepped to the stern of the boat and stayed along the railing. They gave me a handheld device to narrate the trip, and a guide added some extra commentary at different stops. As the boat pulled away from the dock I was glad Edward had thought to buy us new cameras. I'd taken a few pictures here and there- it wasn't something I thought about much being practically immortal, but there was no way I couldn't send a few of these views home. Most of my pictures so far were up the Eiffel Tower, and I'd have to remember to really snap Montmartre before I left. I took out my camera now and started taking pictures immediately. The effect of the Eiffel Tower framed by the surrounding buildings was indescribable: classic. We headed across the city all the way around Notre Dame, and I continued to take pictures of the museums, the water, the people, the bridges, the trees, the sky, and contemplate the contrast of the natural and urban- the river and the tourist boat, manmade buildings situated on this one significant tract of earth. It was as we were pulling up to the dock that I came to realize something else about myself. Recently I had found myself more and more out of place at La Push- it was more than what I was: the only female shape shifter, who for some reason wasn't imprintable, I found myself much more a combination of new and old, traditions and the modern, myself natural, but somehow feeling at home with the more cultured and urban. I was a personification of a European city. I felt like I was the next phase of our wolf evolution, but how was I supposed to evolve? What was the change? I still didn't have that answer.

I got back on the metro and made the change once again onto the 13 line. As the train was rounding a corner into a new tunnel, my eyes suddenly almost blacked out, and I couldn't see. Suddenly I felt as if I was standing alone outside, and I was missing all my clothes. There was wind, but as usual, it never bothered me. I supposed it must be some kind of memory of when I had phased back to human, and yet I could see none of my brothers, nor any vampire nearby, and besides, it was not a forest I recognized. Suddenly a young man about my age came striding up to me out of the trees showing no surprise at my appearance. Instead he smiled hugely. Well, I supposed that was flattering. He was tall and rather thin, with longish hair that was almost black and dark eyes that were shocking cobalt. He didn't look nearly as muscular as any of my brothers but nor was he built like an average human. His strength was obvious. He was wearing only a pair of shorts so he was nearly as naked as I was- I felt a little better. I never panicked. He was looking at me with one of the surest, calmest expressions on his face that I had ever seen. I had only ever seen a similar look on Sam's face, but never when he was looking at me- too much had happened between us. The man's skin was a somewhat light olive, and his limbs were big. He reached for my hand but I was too slow to react. An announcement pulled me out of my vision. I almost missed my stop. I hurried out of the metro, and my phone rang. It was Anica.

"Hello my young one," she liked to call me, "how was your afternoon?"

"Good," I told her honestly, I was a little dazed, "I took a boat ride on the river."

"Oh very nice," she continued, "where are you? I need to speak with you about something. Are you heading back?" I was pleased; this was exactly what I needed. Hopefully she could clarify what this vision was and suggest a way to get out of the public eye to phase. Were there more problems even than mine? I was apprehensive-

"Is there something wrong? I'm on my way"

"Not exactly my dear, it is more of an old lady's peculiar behavior, you understand, but I always trust my intuition, and it is stirring at the moment." She was trying to reassure me. I thought perhaps I would finally understand what I was missing in regards to Anica. But I had a more pressing issues.

"I wish to speak to you too." I said vehemently.

She was not surprised in the least. "Ah, yes, you see? This is the first clue of my accuracy, the first hunch that I was given. Yes, indeed. Where are you? We must talk."

"I'm only a few blocks away. I'll be there in less than ten minutes." I was walking possibly a little faster than I should.

"Excellent. I'll see you then." She said, and hung up the phone.

I got back to our flat in less than five minutes, and Anica was waiting for me at her door. I stepped right inside. "Now, what do you wish to speak to me about?" she asked, but I couldn't answer right away. I sat down. Anica began bustling around her kitchen, making some coffee.

"Child, you do not look well, tell me what is wrong."

"I don't know how to start…" I paused then, but abruptly I said, "I saw something."

"You mean a vision, like your little vampire friend," she said serenely. I stared. She smiled at me.

"You have the capacity to recognize that I am not a normal human, because neither are you. It is not safe to speak of this too much. But know that vampires and their talents are very easy for me to interpret. I do not see the future, but there is much I can sense. Your friends who came with you work with the future, and with our emotions. They are also different from the others of their kind, which pleases me. From you I sensed great loyalty, a sharpness of mind, determination, and a longing to bring honor to your people. Please do not ask about me yet. Tomorrow we will travel to my son Emil's estate, he is unmarried and childless, but his older brother Lucian will be there with his wife Simona, and their almost grown daughters, Eveline and Kathryn." She finished making the coffee and placed a mug before each of us. She sat across from me.

I couldn't understand it. She seemed to know everything. I could only tell what happened. "I did see a vision- I never have before… Do you know what I am?"

"I am not certain, and I understand that you'd wish to keep your magic a secret. All I can know is that you will have a tremendous impact on my people. Of that I am certain."

I finally had to ask. "Where are people from Anica? Where is home?" I still felt like I was interfering somehow.

"It is alright young one- you may have guessed from my clothing in any case. The world tends to call us gypsies, just as you are often called Indians, but our proper name is Roma. My family travel all over. Most of them have lived in and around Romania for many years now, though some of my clan live in Russia, and others have returned to our roots, in India. Ours is a very specific, magical clan. I have a very large family. My immediate family traveled with my Emil to France, for he wished to buy a French vineyard. My husband and I once lived with Lucian and his family outside Paris, but after my husband Gabriel passed, I moved here. My youngest, Roxanna, stayed behind in Romania. She now has one daughter. You may wonder at the way I have pronounced your name, but you see, the two of you have something in common. She is Lia."

"L-I-A?" I asked.

"Yes- a name that means 'bringer of good news.' She is very special as well, but she is only 8."

Bringer of good news? I thought to myself. I didn't know what that meant. I only knew my name was biblical. I changed thoughts- "I'm not sure if you can't predict the future, because I was going to ask you if there was a way I could head to the countryside tomorrow. You're right about me having a type of magic, in a way, and…" I wasn't sure how to phrase it, "well it would just be best if I could go to the most rural place you can think of- keep away from people."

"Emil's estate will be perfect. My second hunch today, right before I called you, was that we should be there tomorrow. I called Emil, and then I called you."

"I'll explain it better when we get there." I said.

"Yes, that is best, and I about my family." She said.

Once again, I felt a connection to Anica, as if she could understand everything that I was going through. Jacob as my Alpha had never forbidden us to speak of our abilities, because we didn't need any edict. We knew what dangers were present. But I had the firmest conviction that Anica _needed_ to be let in on the secret, and that it wouldn't even shock her, somehow. She knew all about vampires! I didn't push her to disclose anything else, and she didn't question me.

"I have to call some friends." I said.

"Will they join us tomorrow?" She asked.

"Well…" I began, not wanting to lie.

"I understand. Do what you need to prepare." She calmly drank from her mug. I had forgotten it was there. "Go back to your room, Leah;" pronouncing my name normally for the first time, "shall we have dinner in two hours? I will cook tonight"

"Yes, thank you." I said. Two hours would give me plenty of time to set things up with Jake, and digest the insane conversation I had just taken part in.

****

POV: Embry

Time: Early evening of Day 11.

Place: A restaurant in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

I was sitting eating an early dinner by myself. It had been almost a week, and we still had yet to hear anything from Fayina. Rodika and Nic were out searching somewhere, and Uta was reluctant tonight to be alone with me, so I was by myself. It didn't bother me. In the first two days I seemed to be the most concerned with Fayina's whereabouts, but I had stopped questioning them. They had different ideas. She was working, she had mixed up the week, and/or she had changed her mind… This morning Rodika and Nic had begun their search, finally admitting that there might be something wrong. Having just met the group, I didn't involve myself too far.

Uta had continued to be beguilingly difficult, hanging on my every word or even me physically some days as she took me around the city, (mostly by one of the many bikes,) and avoiding me other days. I had never dated a girl like her, and I didn't even know if we were technically dating, to be honest. We fooled around, off and on. She'd pull away before it got serious, and I never knew if she'd ever comment on how warm both our skins were. I didn't worry. I liked it anyway; it was some kind of exotic European fling, or something. Uta was definitely exotic herself.

We spent one day visiting some of the major sites: the Van Gogh museum, and the Anne Frank House. My group's interests suited me: we wanted to see some culture, but we weren't obsessed with getting to everything. We spent a notable night with marijuana, but I found I wasn't as in to it as I thought I'd be. It was nice, I guess. We ate about three dinners that night though. That would become an issue if I had continued, no doubt. Nic thought I should head toward the Red Light district another night, but Uta and Rodika gave him the most furious looks, and so my time in Amsterdam was relatively tame. We did drink a lot, but as well all seemed to have extremely robust tolerances, I didn't count on it for interest. I never drank as much as that first night in any case. I spent most of my time bike riding or going for boat rides, walking around streets, kissing Uta, hanging out with all three of them in bars and listening to music- it was the escape I needed and fun. I paid my bill and left the restaurant. The sun would be setting soon. I checked my phone for messages. Oops. There were 5 of them. But argh, Jake knew I was fine, I called him only 3 days ago! What could be wrong? I paused. I told Leah I would stay in touch too, and I hadn't spoken to her at all. I couldn't face it. I grimaced as I punched in my password.

"Embry, its Jake, call me." Nothing sounded urgent there. I deleted the message and listened to the next one, sent two hours after the first. "It's Jake again- look I really need you to call me when you get this." The third one was sent about thirty minutes after the second. "Embry, I don't appreciate you ignoring me, you know better than this. I NEED to talk to you. Call me." I was getting more chagrined as I listened; Jake was right. I was avoiding my duty. The fourth one was sent ten minutes after the third. "Embry, at this moment I am contemplating going to find you and kicking your ass. I am furious. I have to get a hold of Leah too, and then get back to Nessie. I expect to receive a call this evening at the latest." I deleted the message again. The last message was from when I was eating dinner, and it was from Leah. I immediately stiffened at the sound of her voice, which was raised slightly with anxiety, but urgent.

"Em, I'm sure Jake has gotten to you by now and I don't know what he's told you, he just told me something's going on at home and we need to find a way to talk _together _tomorrow. Did he sound worried to you? Something's not right. It turns out I have a landlord who's way beyond the usual, it's really hard to explain, but she has a son who owns a vineyard outside Paris somewhere, I'll be there tomorrow. She guessed some things about us, and there's definitely some magic around her too. Neither of us is giving away much right now, but we have a connection, and I feel… I don't know, like I said, I'm sure you'll understand tomorrow. Jake hasn't gotten back to me with a time, which is weird, so I thought I had to check in with you, I'm sorry. I'll try back, I guess… or you can…"

I ended the message there and stepped into an alley so I could call Jake. Leah was right, something must be wrong at home.

"Jake?"

'It's about time." He grumbled.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I just…"

"I've calmed down. But I did need you to call back. I've got news from home, and I'd rather not tell you until we five can talk together. Are you still in Amsterdam?"

"Yeah. That's fine. Leah left me a message, saying she'd be at some vineyard- I'm sure I can get away somehow too, I'll just tell the group I need a day to myself."

"Good. Now, we've got time changes to deal with- I don't want to make Quil and Seth suffer. I'm only an hour behind the two of you. Quil and Seth are 9 hours behind you. I was thinking if we meet at 4 in the afternoon your time, it will be 3 for me obviously and 7am for Quil and Seth. That should give you time to get wherever your going."

"Sounds good. I'll call you about 2:30 your time, then, ok?"

"You better. I'll let Leah know." Jake said.

"Hey, thanks for not coming after me." I told him.

"Don't do it again."

"Say hello to everyone, and give Nessie a hug for me, alright?"

"Will do. I'll hear ya tomorrow…finally; I've been missing you guys."

"It's going to be awkward." I said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah well, that's less of a worry. We'll get passed that first."

'You didn't tell Quil or Seth?" I asked.

"Nope, haven't phased. Sam called to speak to me. Anyway. Tomorrow."

'Great, thanks." I said sarcastically, and sighed, "Tomorrow- see ya."

"See ya." I hung up.

This was great. Something was going on at home that was too important for Jake to just tell us individually, and now I had to hear Leah's thoughts on top of it. I was mollified briefly by the fact it couldn't be so urgent, because if it was Jake wouldn't have been able to hold back. I was insanely curious about what Leah had been thinking lately, but I was horrified of what she'd hear in my thoughts. I sparred a brief thought for Quil and Seth too, especially Seth poor guy. I wondered if I should tell him separately. Leah's still his sister. I'd think about it. I'd gotten back to the hostel by then, and Uta was waiting for me, looking a little nervous.

"I have to talk to you." She began.

"I seem to be a popular subject for that tonight. Look I've gotten some news from my friends who went up to Ireland, and I'm not going to be good company tomorrow. I hope you won't mind if I take off by myself on a day trip."

"Oh! That's perfect!" I stared at her in confusion for a moment and she hurried her speech, "I apologize, I meant that we have a new lead on where Fayina might be, but it's complicated. The three of us need to leave very soon and we'll be gone at least through tomorrow. We should be back after that. I was only hoping you would not be offended…" She trailed off.

"Of course not, well that works out then." I said. That really was easy.

"Where will you go?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. Where are you going?"

"Not too far, but like I said, it's complicated." Would I ever get a straight answer out of her?

"UTA!" I heard from downstairs.

"That's Rodika." She said. She kissed my goodbye, picked up a bag, and hurried out the door before I could ask her anything else. I went down to the front desk to ask them about visiting whatever forest or meadows there were in the Netherlands.

**So Embry, Jake, Leah, Quil, and Seth all of one mind again? Should be interesting… If you review, perhaps I'll give you a clue about what the news could possibly be. Thanks for reading!**

**TE**


	10. Chapter 10

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. (The new groups: Anica and her family and Embry's new friends are mine, and I'm quite proud of them, and how I've wound them into the Twilight universe.)**

**This chapter almost made my head explode, first with the complexity of what I figured out and also because I realized a whole train of thought that I was setting up almost derailed completely based on a story point that just didn't make sense. Never mind. Thanks to AGoodWitch for helping me get back on track, and for being generally cool like that. She has stories. Go read them. She told me about a one-shot contest she's just started. Go enter it. Time change also becomes important this chapter, so I've added that to the categories.**

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 10- The Future is now

_We've got to understand, the future's in our hands…_

_Chorus: The future is now/there's no better time to get in line/The future is here/Today, hey/The future is now/Let's stand up and fight we know it's right/Nothing will stand in our way. _–_The Future is now_, by Joanne Harris

POV: Leah

Times: 1am Seattle, 9am Dublin, and 10am Paris and Amsterdam

Place: Emil's Vineyard- Somewhere outside Colmar near the Vosges Mountains, Alsace, France

I was exhausted by the time we arrived at the small vineyard despite the short plane ride. Neither Anica nor I wanted to waste any time, so we took the first flight to the Basel Mulhouse airport we could get on. It was still pretty early when our plane touched down. Anica's oldest son Lucian was waiting for us. He had Anica's dark hair and light olive skin, but his eyes were much brighter. Anica's eyes were hazel, and for the first time I got the sense that they might have had the same luster as her son's when she was younger. It reminded me the way a leech's eyes would change. It only added to her mystery. When I took a closer look I could immediately sense some kind of other-worldly quality to Lucian, there seemed to be intense determination in every move he made. But his movement was effortless. He had almost the same grace as the Cullens, a grace I sometimes recognized in my own pack: something that united all of us as more than human. But his movement was sleeker than my own. I wondered if I was only seeing what I wanted to see, or if I could simply notice what an average person would overlook. Lucian's clothes were uncomplicated and more modern than his mother's. I was a bit confused as to how young his brother Emil and their sister Roxanna might be, for Lucian appeared to be 35, at most. The family must have moved to the vineyard not too long ago. His hair was long and pulled back into a ponytail, and he had a short mustache. Of course his English was a good as his mother's.

He drove us in a small car on the highway up to the city of Colmar, and then back south on a much smaller road appropriately known as the "wine route," to get to our destination. The vineyard was in easy running distance of the Vosges Mountains, and I immediately knew that was where I would head to phase. It seemed almost too perfect, and I wondered if Anica could sense more from me than she let on. Lucian was very knowledgeable about our surroundings and often pointed out the names of vineyards as he drove, but I was too nervous to pay attention. Anica would glance at her son from time to time from the front seat, and then turn with a reassuring smile for me. Lucian's mouth would harden only slightly as she did this; he seemed determined to be civil to me and placate his mother. To maintain my calm I reasoned he was well aware of his mother's personality rather than thinking it was in relation to me.

We pulled up to rows and rows of grapevines on a relatively small tract of land. To the north was a chateau, looking exactly like what I expected. It was older in style, and made of stone. It was two-storied with a bunch of windows and a few balconies, too. Emil greeted us first when we arrived to his vineyard. Lucian must have been only slightly older than Emil, for there were only minimal differences in looks between the two brothers. But Lucian had a far stronger presence. Emil's eyes were more like the hazel of his mother and his hair was much shorter and lighter than Lucian's- it also had a lot of red in it. He was clean shaven, but other than that, he and his brother could have been twins, their features were the same. Both men were rather handsome, but had nowhere near the beauty of a vampire, or even my brothers, in my opinion. Lucian was too sharp, his brother too plain. Emil's greetings were the height of politeness, so of course I surmised that he liked me less than his brother. I wasn't that concerned with what he thought. Eveline and Kathryn, tall, long and almost muscular women, followed their uncle from the house. Eveline was a little older; probably about the same age I appeared to be, around 23. Kathryn was probably closer to my actual age, 20. They each had their father's dark hair, but I could detect the faintest bit of red in Kathryn's hair. I wondered if she saw it herself. They had inherited their father's eyes and powerful manner. I remembered Anica's description of "almost grown" in reference to her granddaughters and chuckled. Simona was the last to greet us. Her hair was vivid gold, and flowed down her back in a long braid. Her eyes were also unusually intense- they were green. She wore a skirt unlike Eveline and Kathryn, and glasses. None of the other's clothes stood out. I myself had on a blouse and skirt because I felt that if I was staying as a guest with Anica's family, I would make the effort to be a bit more presentable, at least when we met. The women smiled at me, Kathryn even coming forward to give me a hug. I pulled back in shock, involuntarily. She didn't feel very cool to me, the way her grandmother, or any other human did. She spoke quickly-

"Grandmother told us she mentioned our magic to you…" she tried to explain, but Emil cut her off.

"Kathryn!" He said warningly, but Anica stood serenely next to me.

Simona spoke in a sure voice. "No Emil, it's alright," then she addressed me- "you might have noticed Anica is a very good judge of character. It is part of her talent. I sense you are no danger to us; indeed, I am not surprised in the least that Anica has brought you here. You need our help." Emil huffed out in anger and bolted for the Chateau. I couldn't focus on him.

"How can you be sure?" I blurted out.

"Intuition. The magic must affect your temperature in the same way as ours," she said, lightly taking my hand. Hers was also warmer than a human. "Anica can only guess what you are, we are not sure, nor do we expect you to tell us, for we must earn each other's trust."

I processed that, and it was silent for a moment. I knew Carlisle said it was a difference in gene count that caused the varying temperatures, but was there magic involved? Nessie had 24 pairs of chromosomes too, but she wasn't a shape shifter. What was the difference? Was there even such thing as magic in today's world, or just some phenomena we can't explain?

Then Eveline, who must be quieter than her sister, spoke for the first time. "I see you in the mountains later this afternoon. Do you require us to hide you?" She cocked her head as she looked at me, and Lucian stared even more intently behind her.

"You see me in the mountains?" I asked apprehensively, but then I knew she hadn't seen me phased, or she wouldn't have known it was me. "You can see the future?"

"Well I only see a person's future based on their decisions, if you change…" she was looking worried as she spoke- as if she had frightened me.

"I understand. I know a vampire who does the same thing." I reassured her. They did not look entirely pleased by that, and I smiled. "I know, it's disconcerting. I didn't know vamps had extra powers either."

Lucian answered me. "We did, but we've never heard of one seeing the future as some of us are able to. This vampire must be very powerful."

"Well, I suppose, yes…" I started slowly.

"Oh come on! You have to tell us what you are!" Kathryn cried.

"Kathryn!" It was Anica who chastised her this time. "You cannot expect it of her. We are friendly now, but we each must protect our families. Leah knows this well. So do you."

"I apologize," the expression on her face made her seem more like Eveline.

Simona began to motion me inside. "Are you tired? Do you require rest, or something to eat? I know your trip was not long, but…"

"My nerves are on edge." I finished, nodding my head. "Physically, I'm not tired at all." We walked toward the large building and entered through a pair of main double doors. I followed Simona to the kitchen. I saw Emil out of the corner of my eye as I passed, and I tried to nod respectfully toward him. I figured he was as protective of his family's secret, whatever it was, as I was of mine. I understood completely. I was his guest; he was letting me, possibly a great threat, into his vineyard for no foreseeable benefit to his family that he could see, only risk, to help me. I wondered how I'd managed to earn more trust from the rest of them. I was never more grateful that I had found Anica.

The kitchen was one of those huge ones you see on cooking shows, with every pot, pan, cooking utensil, and appliance known to mankind in one room- the ones that could support a small army. In the center was a big island with lots of shelves and drawers, with stools placed around the edge for sitting. I counted 5 ovens, one in each corner of the room, and a large one across from the main counter space on the island, built into the wall. I sat down on one of the stools. Anica questioned me.

"I have watched your eating habits carefully young one. Your appetite is much greater than an average human. You must be careful. Luckily, I am quite used to voracious eaters." She motioned to her family, "They can out-eat even you!"

"You do not eat as much?" I asked her, intrigued.

"I have no need. I once did," she said.

Oh- so that would account for the eye difference. Once upon a time her eyes _were_ as bright. I kept my face impassive.

"I'm sure my brothers could keep up with your family," I smiled a little wistfully and I was glad I would be able to talk to some of them soon. Kathryn laughed in response.

"If that is true, that is awfully impressive," she continued between laughs. "How many brothers do you have?"

"Just one that's related to me. There are others who are… related by magic, let's say. My biological brother included."

"I see," Kathryn said, "we too have a fair number of "magical" siblings."

"Speaking of my brothers, there are a few who I think I need to speak to sooner rather than later. Would you mind showing me a private room where I can make a few phone calls? Or somewhere outdoors, even?"

"You should eat something first. I cannot tell you exactly what will happen, but your day is going to be very difficult," Eveline said. Simona left the room.

"I believe you." I sighed.

Simona returned with a cook, who soon brought over yet another huge crepe, (I'd quickly become addicted,) a couple of croissants, a plate of ham and cheese, and a cup of hot chocolate. I found out after that was my appetizer. Anica did know me well. I sat back down on the stool and dug in to the tasty food.

****

POV: Embry

Time: About an hour later, 11am Amsterdam time

Place: Somewhere in the region of Zeeland, the Netherlands

Last night I asked at the front desk where I could go to find a really random, really rural place to visit. I claimed to be tired of people. The front new more about the tourist stuff. But I hung around and kept asking people walking in. There were apparently these uninhabited islands way to the south, but I couldn't get a straight answer as to if people were even allowed. It didn't matter much, I wouldn't be human. I packed my things, went back to the rail station and took the intercity train to the port of Flushing, (Vlissingen, in Dutch.) I got to the station and started walking around. I was on an arbitrary road when my phone rang. It was Leah- fabulous. I would have to talk to her, and I would try to be polite. I knew she wouldn't be bothering me for no reason; besides, since we were due for an inter-mind wolf meet up later anyway, it'd be better to get the drama part over with. I picked up the phone.

"Hi Leah." There was only a small sigh in my voice. She sighed in response, took a deep breath, and got right to the point-

"Em, listen, we need to talk about what happened, and I don't think either of us wants to do it no-holds-barred, especially with witnesses, so I'm calling you. You know Jacob hasn't told anyone, not even Sam, and I was thinking I'd call Sam and Seth separately. Frankly I'm not keen on the idea of trying to explain what happened when I'm trying to hold back visuals from my brother and my ex."

I didn't answer her. I just exhaled. Frankly I was trying to control the shaking that started and hold back a few steamy visuals of my own- which meant she was right of course. So I said it.

"You're right."

"And now I wish I could tell you that something has changed in me, give you some idea as to where my mind is, but I really don't know. I still feel like I'm on the threshold of something big and I know I have to reach it alone. But I can't tell you how I know that, because I don't. I'm sorry to be so frustrating. Since we've split up I feel like all I've done is think, and I've come to a slightly different conclusion than the one I left you with."

My heart sped up in response. I was even more thankful she couldn't hear the hope seeping out of the brain I'd desperately tried to lock it up in. How humiliating! So I wouldn't let myself say anything more than-

"Oh?"

She did sound frustrated. "I can't seem to get away from the clichés, argh!" Somewhat to herself- "I hate this!," and back to me, "I think I just need time to figure this out, but... the thought of you and me- I brought it back from the dead." She breathed out, and there was this long dramatic pause as I stood riveted, "You and I aren't aging, and it took Edward almost a century to find the love of his existence. Who said it was going to work out right away, even if we've already transformed? How do we know how we'll feel in the future anyway? I was wrong to push you away so fast- but I was too overwhelmed. Now I'm just saying, maybe."

I shook my head to clear it, probably a wolf instinct. What she was saying sounded reasonable, but it wasn't a direct yes. The answer could be no. I could invest myself and end up with nothing. Despair compressed my heart in that moment. She could say yes, and then change her mind, like my nameless, vacillating father. It was a major risk that I wasn't sure I could go along with. I had felt some of her pain over Sam, and Jacob's pain with Bella, and watched my mother pretend everything was how she'd chosen it… I settled for following Leah's example. "Lee, I can't get my hopes up. We've already been through too much already to turn into a Jacob and Bella now."

"We wouldn't be. Neither one of us is clinging to an Edward. But I understand what you're saying. I think we should just step back, and handle whatever news Jacob has for us now, because that's what we're good at. I should tell Seth and Sam myself, and you should tell Quil and soon, it's really late there. This way no one will get a shock from the pack mind. I have to call Jacob next, I told him I'd call when I arrived, but it's a little intense here. Did he tell you when we're meeting up?"

"Yes, he said 4pm for us, so Seth and Quil can sleep a little. Where are you anyway? What do you mean by intense?"

"4 o'clock? Alright. It's a long story. Basically I'm on the grounds of my landlord's son's vineyard in eastern France. How about I let you know when I know what's going on," she said. That sounded like my group. I hadn't really thought about where Fayina might be, or if my companions had found her yet. They had taken off so fast. I felt guilty for not calling them for a moment, but I really had too much on my mind already. I reminded myself again that they weren't nearly so worried, and focused.

"So talk to Jake, and tell him to call me with whatever time you figure out. I've still got about an hour of walking to do, I figure. I'm not in the best spot yet. I'll call Quil in the meantime." Inward groan.

"Call me back if you need me," she said firmly.

"Right," I said evenly. (Of course I need you!! I want you so bad! Get it together Embry, poker voice--) "I'll probably just climb into your head later," I still grumbled a little, and then paused. "What do you expect me to tell Quil anyway?" I was losing my grip and my voice was abruptly louder, "I still don't understand this."

"Tell him the truth. You don't need me to tell you how to talk to your friend," she said in a voice that was a little too anxious still to be soothing.

"Right," I said again, "But you're still making this harder than it needs to be." I'd be frowning at her if I could see her. I was trying to ignore my arms that'd be reaching for her too; being away from her sure wasn't helping me. Uta couldn't push her out of my mind completely, especially now.

"Well maybe I am. The point is I don't know. I can't get my hopes up either Embry, because if I do this and you imprint- then not only am I left alone _again_, I'd still have no fucking clue why I turned into a Wolf. And if I imprint, then I've turned around and smashed your heart…" I swear I could feel her shudder, "I know what that's like. I won't do that. This is too important to rush."

It clicked into place. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?" I yelled exasperatedly.

"Ok, Ow! Sensitive ears!" she yelled back.

"Right, sorry."

"Me too. I did say it…badly. We just stepped away." She paused for a long moment, before changing her tone. It was more optimistic, somehow- "It's going to work out Em, have a little faith in destiny," she said.

"Destiny?" I smirked.

"Sure, why not?... look, I've got to call up two scary Wolf-men and convince them it was my fault so they don't kill YOU for not staying here with their Lee-Lee all the while begging them to understand me so they don't travel to France to string me up by MY heals for hurting their brother." She blew out a breath.

"Good luck with that," I said sarcastically. Scary Wolf-men? I shook my head again, this time in admiration. Only one of the reasons I'd fallen for this girl. She'd almost have me laughing, almost, if I weren't so depressed over it.

"Thanks very much." The bitter Leah was back, but only for a moment. "Please try to convince Quil not to kill me too. I swear I'll let him beat me in a race if it helps."

I did laugh then. "I'll remember that. Both of us, at least," I told her.

"Fair enough," She grumbled, "Au revoir."

"Talk to ya later," I said, hanging up my phone.

****

POV: Leah

Time: Shortly after hanging up with Embry, about 10am Dublin and 11am Paris time

Place: Emil's library, 1st floor of the chateau.

The group had left me in a spacious library with a massive mahogany desk in the corner, and multiple seating areas of deep jade and blue throughout the room. The couches and chairs were all oversized and comfy-looking. I was pacing predictably as I was talking to Embry, but now I collapsed into a chair after hanging up and tried to turn my focus to how I was going to possibly explain myself to Seth and Sam. I didn't want to rely on Jacob again; he was nice enough to be putting up with me considering I was causing so much drama for one of his oldest friends. But I would warn him that Seth, Quil, and Sam would know now. As I contemplated, I couldn't stop my body from quivering a little. Fleetingly I wished I could speak to Seth and Sam together, at the same time so I'd only have to do this once, but I really couldn't handle them hearing all the feelings that would no doubt explode from me if we were all Wolves. Seth and Sam would be concerned for different reasons. Seth would care most about me, and would probably be most upset by the fact that I had opened my heart again, only to close it off before really knowing why. I expected him to reason that I was scared, which I was, but not in the way he'd mean it.

It'd be harder on Sam. I thought back to the day I left, less than 2 weeks before, (now more like 2 lifetimes in my head) and remembered how surprised Sam had been when I'd told him. He wouldn't begrudge me a new life, or even a new love, but I think part of him would hope that I'd find it somewhere outside the pack. He'd have the same issue as Jacob, another Alpha looking out for us all. I reflected that if Sam and I both had our happiness and we could be friends together, like Bella and Jacob were now, then he would be happy for me. But Embry and I weren't firmly together. I didn't know if we'd ever get there, or if that's what I really wanted. That was the challenge, and that restlessness would upset Sam.

Once upon a time Jacob and I were in the same position in two different mystical, insane, love triangles that had taken over the pack. Sam and Emily were still like Bella and Edward, no issues there. But I no longer felt like a "Jacob." Suddenly I knew I was more like Bella now, but with only a miniscule amount of her certainty. I felt like Embry had taken over Jacob's role, trying to convince me that we were perfect together. Those elusive questions pulling me away, which Anica had encouraged me to answer, had taken the spot where my "Edward" should be. That was all I knew for sure. I had to have the answers, and on this vineyard enveloped by magic I felt closer to an answer than I ever had. This was the magic of old legends, the guiding force behind every one of those myths-turned-truths. Now I could see Anica at the start of another opening in my life. would keep going on this path, so that one day soon I could give Embry a yes, or an explanation of just what the hell was going on. I came down from the land of metaphorical, and back to the library

Time to call Jacob. I wasn't worried about this phone call at least, and I hoped nothing changed there. I dialed his number.

"Hey Leah, calling to tell me you're in one piece?" He seemed to be in a good mood.

"Nice Alice work." I responded.

"Why thank you. Want to know what time?"

"I spoke to Embry about 20 minutes ago, so I know, 4pm my time. We spoke a bit, It was a good step, and I suggested he call Quil directly so that he's not blindsided by Embry and I later."

"That's probably best. Are you guys ok?"

"Basically I've come to the point where I told him maybe, ya know, but not now. And I explained myself better. I hope it helped."

"Good. Then I can leave it there."

"Uh huh." I said.

" It's only 2am in Seattle right now, and Sam and I wanted to make sure no one would cross Seth and Quil while letting them get a nap in, at least. I know you and Embry can handle staying anonymous in daylight. Embry's got to make sure he's far off the beaten path too. Breathe Leah, and call Sam and Seth. You haven't called home lately, which gives them a clue that something is up."

"I will." I was sure he was right. I breathed out, and smiled for a millisecond. I was getting better this calming business. "I'll be up some mountains when I phase."

"I believe Embry will be on the water somewhere, and the pack will let Quil and Seth have some privacy. They'll keep the lookout, along with Emmett and Rosalie."

Emmett and Rosalie? "Does this have anything to do with the news?" I asked.

"We'll discuss it. Make your phone calls!" Jake said abruptly.

"Alright," I groaned, giving up. I couldn't let myself get more anxious than I was. I hung up and then called Sam's house, where I figured the older pack mates would be after a patrol. I was right. I asked for Seth. The time passed quickly as I spoke to Seth first, and then Sam.

"You spent a night with Embry. But didn't he take off with new friends?" Seth wanted to know.

"It was my fault Seth. I think we could be happy together, but if I just stayed with him, I'd never find out who I am, as a female Wolf. You know me, I need to know. If Embry and I were meant to be together, why didn't he imprint on me? Maybe we're meant to be partners and co-protectors, but why are we the Wolf pair? Why wasn't I Sam's or even Jacob's imprint? I had too many questions. And not to mention, I panicked big time and completely screwed up my explanation to Embry the next morning. I didn't think," I lowered my voice even though no one could hear me, "I'm not thinking of Sam all the time anymore Seth, and Embry's on my mind, but this is the first time I can concentrate even a little bit on myself. Embry gave me that," back to normal volume, "That's not quite how I said it, unfortunately, and I don't blame Embry for leaving. I promise you, I'm ok."

"Leah…" Seth sighed. I tested my theory…

"I bet you're thrilled I found someone new, are concerned for each of your Wolf siblings, think I didn't give him enough of a chance, and closed off my heart out of fear."

"Only partially. What you're saying makes sense, and I'm purposely keeping all this vague since you're my sister and I so don't want to know. You and Embry better focus later or I'm coming after you. It's just… I suppose I'm desperate for something to work out for you Lee, you don't deserve all this pain. Not that Embry does either, of course."

Wow. "Thanks Seth. Trust me, if Embry and I were meant to be, we will be. Do you know what we're talking about later?"

"We've been picking up some weird stuff lately. Hard to explain. I know you'll work this out. Thank God you called first. I promise we'll let you two be."

"Thank you. Alright, put Sam on. "'I've got a new man in my life' Take 2." I groaned.

"Yikes. Good Luck." I heard him compose his voice before he called out, "Sam! Leah wants to talk to you." Sam came to the phone.

"Hey Lee-Lee, I was wondering when you'd finally share with me what everyone in Dublin and Amsterdam seems to already know," he said cheerfully.

"Yeah, about Amsterdam, and Embry, Sam…" I began, "I'm the reason Embry left London," I said gloomily. Sam sobered in an instant.

"What do you mean Leah?"

"I don't know how to put this… I couldn't have you in my head… well; let's just say that Embry's been on my mind a lot more than you have in the last week and a half." I finished lamely.

Sam picked up on what I was trying to say. "Did you sleep with him?" he asked, bluntly.

"Yes." I answered immediately. I couldn't lie.

"Did he hurt you?" He asked.

"Other way around," I hurried to explain, "At first we thought we had finally found real love…" I proceeded as I had with Seth, except I changed the part about how I was free of Sam. I only told Sam how I was beginning to get a better handle on myself, thanks to Embry. Sam listened patiently, but I was very glad to not only be free of his head, but his expressions, as he listened to me. I finished with- "It was my fault. I'm sorry to put the pack through even more drama than I've already caused, especially for Embry, Jake, and you, but I couldn't help it. I need to be where I am."

"We'll deal with this then. But I'm still worried Leah. How do you know this is the right thing? What happens if it's years before you settle down with Embry? What happens to each of you if you never do? What happens if one of you imprints? I'm worried more about each of you, my family, than I am about the pack as a whole."

"That means a lot Sam. I knew you'd be worried, and I am too. I called Embry today to talk about some of those very questions, and we decided not to decide right now. I haven't given up on him, and I'm certain he hasn't given up on me," I said. We each took a few moments. Impulsively I made a decision. "Listen, Sam, what has Jake told you about my landlord?"

"Everything he knows, I think- that she's a freaky old lady who might read minds and apparently scared the hell out of Jasper, not an easy thing to do that, why?"

"Well it turns out Anica doesn't read minds, but she does have some kind of sixth sense. She sensed a lot about me, and watched me carefully. I'm not worried, she said she can't tell what I am, and she already knows about vampires…"

"She recognized Alice and Jasper for what they are?" he interrupted.

"Yes, it seems her family has some kind of secret just like we do. She admitted to having some kind of magic, and she said she knew I was good. She told me I'd have a major impact on her family. She wants to help me. She brought me to this remote vineyard so I can safely phase, and her family welcomed me with open arms, literally. Open arms that didn't feel cool to me."

"They've got a higher temperature."

"Yep, and they didn't try to hide it. I only admitted to some magic too and that there was more of my kind."

"Careful Lee, this seems too good to be true."

"Oh, trust me, I know Sam. I'm on red alert. But I had a connection with Anica right from the start. Not like an imprinting, but like I was recognizing an equal I guess, an ally. I'm even more aware of it now."

"They're really helping you?" Sam asked.

"For now, I'll watch myself."

"And we'll watch out for your pack mates later. Have you told this to Jacob?"

"Not yet, I was still too worried about my big news, honestly."

"I guess I understand, but tell your pack what you've told me, and thank you for keeping me informed, I know I'm not your Alpha," he paused and his voice changed slightly, "Let yourself love Leah. I want you to be happy. Even if it's with another Wolf," he sighed.

"Thank you Sam, I know, I have to go. They're probably wondering what I have to talk about with you, I've mentioned Embry only very briefly to Anica, and definitely not that he's like me."

"I suppose I have to tell the guys about you now?"

"I told Embry to tell Quil."

"Oh good, I was grimacing for him in anticipation of this meeting." I made a noise. "Seriously, I'll be delicate with it, and leave out what they don't need to know."

"I know Sam."

"Those of us who were just on patrol have to sleep-Seth, Quil and I included, and we'll do an extra later to make sure. You should go too…stay focused," Sam said.

"I will. Sleep well and good luck."

"You too Lee, it sounds like you're going to need it." Sam hung up. I was glad it wasn't as hard as I anticipated. I didn't want to re-hash it though, in any case. I was thinking far too much. But I wasn't composed enough yet to return to the rest of them and face their questions. I looked around the library, pausing when my eyes fell on a sheet of paper lying on the desk. It was a letter. I turned to step away to avoid inadvertently registering any of someone's private correspondence, but the word "Quileute " jumped out at me from the corner of my eye. What the hell? I listened and looked around to make sure no was coming even though the door to library was huge and firmly shut. I picked up the letter. It was dated almost 9 years ago.

_Dear Emil,_

_I'm writing to you because of how much I appreciate all of your help over the last few weeks. You've become a good friend, and I need your help once again. I know you're planning on moving to France soon and I know how much it means to Anica and Gabriel to have you all together, but you have to convince them that Roxanna needs to stay behind in Romania. I do not know if I can ever return to my home on the Quileute reservation again. You know I worried that it would bring the Werewolves to Washington of course and they might find something in our old legends, but now I must admit that that the situation is even more dire. Roxanna and I have become much more than friends. She is pregnant, and I cannot leave her. She will not leave me either, it's far too late for that. I do not know what my wife at home did to deserve such a terrible fate- that poor woman is already raising Sam by herself because of my nature. It's even worse for my Theresa and Embry. To think I will never get the chance to acknowledge them to the tribe, that Embry will live without a father, is an unbearable grief. I suppose it's nothing more than I deserve, but why must they share in my punishment? For Roxanna's sake, I'm glad she met me last month in India. But for the rest? There is nothing else I can do. The future is now. Please help me, I beg you, if only for your sister. I promise I will secure her happiness._

_I'm desperate,_

_Joshua _

I put the letter down. Sam and Embry are half-brothers. That was all I could concentrate on. Joshua Uley was Embry's father. And they had a half-sister! Lia was 8 years old. I remembered fleetingly that I had last seen Sam's father about a decade ago. He'd married Mrs. Uley after getting her pregnant, but he must not have loved her as much. It sounded like he really wanted to stay with Theresa Call. My head started spinning even further. I left the library without consciously choosing to, looking for Anica.

What would I do? Bring Embry here? Could I even find the words? And what was all this about Roxanna? It sounded like Joshua had no choice but to stay. Oh! They must find mates in a similar way too, and they seemed to have an extremely high reverence for fate. If Roxanna imprinted, or whatever they do, than Joshua couldn't leave. Wait- Roxanna imprinting? Did that mean there was still hope for me? What if women imprinted differently, or whatever it is these ancient people seemed to do? I barely noticed as tears started streaming down my face. I stopped dead in a hallway and wiped my eyes. Could I tell them more about me? Hundreds of questions flooded my mind. I needed to find Anica. I still didn't know exactly what I would say. Did Lia know about her other family? Who would tell Sam? I walked back along the main hallway and got lost trying to re-find the kitchen. I passed bedrooms, more than one dining room, staircases, endless paintings… where was Anica?? Finally I rushed through a large drawing room with grand views of the grapes, ornate furnishings and big heavy drapes. There were gilded fleur-de-lis patterns in the borders. I was too distracted to notice Eveline was sitting reading a book. She looked up as I came in and put down her book.

"Is something wrong Leah?" She asked.

**Intially I was intending to add a whole lot more to this chapter, but it simply got too huge, and it's more fun to make you all wait anyway, leaning over this colossal cliffhanger! Fun! Will we ever get to the meeting itself? And what did they find at La Push??? Tune in next time to find out!**


	11. Chapter 11

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. (The new groups: Anica and her family and Embry's new friends are mine, and I'm quite proud of them, and how I've wound them into the Twilight universe.) Thanks to for the quotes on family…**

**This is what happens when you don't plan out your stories in advance, and the turning points drive you nuts. This chapter went through several major incarnations, and again, I didn't get to the entire story point! Thanks for staying with me. Also, I put up a poll on my profile after I posted chapter 10 since I kept getting different opinions about what's going to happen with Embry and Leah, and it's fascinating to me, so please go vote! **

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 11- Open Arms

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future. -Gail Lumet Buckley

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories? -George Eliot

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. -Jane Howard

Blood's thicker than water, and when one's in trouble, best to seek out a relative's open arms. -Author Unknown

POV: Embry

Place: Who knows? Some shore line in the south of the Netherlands, on the west coast, away from humans...

Time: Noon, Amsterdam time, still day 12

I was starving and pissed off, and now I had to explain to my best friend that I had suddenly slept with and fallen for our pack's only female while still maintaining a shred of manliness, dignity, and respect. The sex part was understandable, even to Quil. He knew how many times a naked Leah would pop up in our minds when she was unaware… my mind immediately remembered…oh cut it out Embry. I must have turned masochistic. No- I thought it was pretty much that I had finally had my eyes opened to love and then yanked out of their sockets by the same girl. I still couldn't see how I'd even fallen so fast, even knowing who Leah was. It must have been there in some form before, and I was being a dumb ass. That sounded more like it. I'd just pick up the phone and call him. My emotions were turning me into a girl. This was Quil, and since Leah had called Sam and Seth, it'd suck big time for Quil not to know.

_Ring, Ring_

"Hello?" A deep voice answered. Perfect, just what I needed right now. I masked my emotion. "Hello, Mr. Ateara? It's Embry" Ever since I had phased, I had stayed as far from any of my potential fathers as I could. I wasn't ready to deal with it. Thankfully, the two men who were around, Quil and Jacob's fathers, seemed to understand. I had very few memories of Sam's dad. It still stunned me that one of those men was _my_ father too, and no one had bothered to say anything. I concentrated on the positive. There was a good Wolf-brother out there who really was my half-brother. We only wished we knew who. Quil's dad answered me.

"Embry! It's good to hear from you."

I fought my grimace, even though he couldn't see it. "Is Quil there?"

"Sure Embry, I'll get him- Quil!" Mr. Ateara didn't yell very loud and I couldn't hear Quil come to the phone. "It's Embry," he finished.

Finally I heard the comforting voice. "Hey Embry, nice of you to remember your other best friend. Sup man? How's the partying? Please tell me those women you're with are hot, and single- you deserve it."

"Thanks Quil, but you know, I don't think it would matter much, really."

Quil stopped joking for once. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

I got right to the point. "I think I'm in love with Leah."

"Wait-but she went to France! Is that why you two stopped traveling together? She doesn't feel the same? Wow, I'm sorry. That would have been great if you two could have worked out. I'm assuming something happened…Shit- this meeting's going to be awkward then."

"Exactly. She was worried she still wouldn't know why she transformed if the whole point of her life was to be with me. Of course that's not what quite what she said initially. It got ugly fast. "

"Ouch. I see her point, kind of, but that still screws you over though," he said.

"Tell me about it," I huffed, just as I would in wolf-form. "Well, Leah told Seth and Sam, so we agreed you needed the truth too. Jake was there for part of it."

"You agreed? So you're talking to her?" Quil asked.

"Sort of- planning, mostly, that kind of thing," I scowled, continuing, "We promise to control our thoughts the best we can."

"I don't envy you there; there are a few positives to having a toddler imprint. I understand. Thanks for letting me know though."

Only one word had stuck with me. "If only I had imprinted on her," I whispered.

"She's out there Embry- you'll find her. I don't think it's rare, really, there are just a lot of options when you don't die."

I tried to let him console me. I wasn't really fooled. "Yeah, maybe. Talk to ya later."

"Stay strong," Quil responded. He hung up the phone and I hung up mine. If Mr. Ateara was my father- then I really had a great-half brother. I looked around for some place I could wait and hide as to not scare any beach goers when they find a wolf near the shore. Not that I would expect to cross any on a late September day in the Netherlands. I kept searching until I found this cave –like opening off the shore. It was good enough, so I stalked over to wait till the meeting. Before I got there though, I heard a faint scream, followed by two angry snarls, way off in the distance. The sources of those screams would change my life forever. I never did make that pack meeting.

*****

POV: Leah

Time: Right at the end of chapter 10- keep going! (About 11:30am, by now, still day 12)

Place: Drawing room, Emil's Vineyard

I started at Eveline's question. It took me a long moment to even react.

"Wrong?"

She continued to watch my flustering, waiting. She took pity on me.

"My vision of you is becoming even clearer. I can lead you to a remote cave I know of in the mountains. You need to be there at about 16:00 hours? Oh forgive me, 4pm? Am I right? I sense it's almost 5 hours away."

"Yes. Can you see…?" I hesitated, "what I'm wearing?"

"A slip dress that once belonged to my grandmother I believe, very loose. I see you walking into the cave. That is all."

I exhaled. So the shape-shifter part wasn't given away, as of yet. I could want to be alone on a mountain range for any number of magical things. I realized then she could see my future when Alice couldn't. But it wasn't the first time today I'd found similarities with Anica's family, I figured that must be it. I had too much to handle already! I tried to respond to Eveline without screaming, "Thank you, I'll remember to ask Anica. Do you know where she is?"

"Here young one." I heard Anica's voice answer me as she walked into the room. She was dressed more like her family, but still in a skirt. She looked more like my grandmother to me, rather than the gypsy… oh… Roma, I expected. "Have you made contact with your family? What is wrong?"

"It's very complicated. Can we speak alone?" My voice was very quiet, despite that, Eveline left the room at once. Anica sat me down on a chair.

"You must breathe Leah; the stress that is emitting from you is startling."

I couldn't answer her, not sure how much I should give away as to what I now knew, and worried in any case that Anica would figure it out anyway. She was so much like Alice. Yet it was Eveline who saw the future. My thoughts turned to the two men who didn't know they were related, and to their father. But how could I even begin? Did I tell her I knew there was a member of _my tribe_ living with her family? What had he told her about our legends? Did she really not know what we were?

"You really don't know what kind of magic I have?" I couldn't help asking then.

"May I ask why you must ask me again?"

"I found a letter," I blurted out.

"Of course you did. I left it on Emil's desk. Now I am here to gage your reaction," Anica said calmly.

Of course she knew. It should have been obvious if I had taken a second to stop panicking and look at things logically. I tried to calm my heart, and I looked down, finally realizing that I was violently shaking. I had almost phased without knowing it! But it was a long time since I had gotten such a shock, even my incident with Embry had nothing on this! I took another breath. I must concentrate. Did this mean she trusted me with an important secret? Or was she telling me just one secret to see if she could trust me further? Or was she pretending all this time?

"I cannot go against my instincts now. I trust you, as I hoped you've trusted me. I know you will not be angry with me for holding back. I have to ask you because based on the letter you left for me, it would seem you might know much more about my tribe than you've let on, especially with your powers, which I still don't understand," I told her.

"I understand Leah. I left you the letter because I was hoping you would confirm that you are connected to a tribe I do not have knowledge of, because her father is too secretive, and so you have. Are you the missing link that will give me some clue of what will happen to my Granddaughter, to the things I cannot see, despite my powers?"

So Joshua hadn't given us away, knowingly or otherwise. How much did I say? I was too dazed. "I'm sorry I must connect with my brothers first." There were two more important points I had to mention...her brothers… "But I must tell you that the Embry I spoke of is the same Embry in the letter: One of Lia's half-brothers. I will speak with both of them this afternoon and they are both ex's of mine, in different ways."

Anica nodded once, looking carefully into my eyes. "You will do what you must, of course. Concentrate on what is important, my _fiica." _She quickly left the room before I could ask her what that meant. Strangely- I still had an impulse.

*****

Time: 1:30pm France time.

I was sitting back in the kitchen, eating lunch. The whole group had assembled minus Anica, seeming more relaxed than before, but then I knew how good my supernatural families were at poker faces. I wondered how much my questions were about to change the mood. "May I ask why Roxanna stayed behind in Romania? I wish I could meet _your_ Lia." I told them honestly, "Anica seems extremely fond of her." Emil had walked across the kitchen as I was asking my question and glowered again. He spoke quickly and harshly, I thought.

"Why would you ask about Lia? What did Anica tell you?"

"Oh come now Uncle, they practically share the same name, and Aunt Roxanna's family is the only immediate family not in France. Of course she's curious," Kathryn said.

"I feel I must agree with Emil," Simona spoke up.

"I am respecting her intelligence, Kathryn. This conversation cannot yet be trivial, it is too important. Perhaps we will be allied, and then we may be friendly."

I stood up from my stool. So Emil was open to trusting me? That was good to know. I addressed him, mostly. "Anica has told me that Lia is unique. I've only heard of you speak of her mother. May I ask what happened to her father?" I was sure I was pushing it, but I thought it better to let them know I knew the right questions to ask. The group merely stared more solemnly at me. Something was wrong, and strangely, even though I knew Lia was half-Quileute, I knew it was not my place to ask. The entire group stood almost as still as a vampire could. It was getting closer to 2:00, thank God; I had to talk to coordinate with Jake. That didn't mean I had any fucking clue of how much to tell him, and certainly nothing about the letter. It was too much and too soon. I told the rest I needed to go outside. Wolves were never any good at waiting around.

Emil found me outside a few minutes later.

"I would like to continue talking with you. If I may," he said quietly.

"Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer?" I asked. I didn't really know if I was joking or not.

"Perhaps. Usually I trust my mother's judgment. I am worried, but I am hopeful. I do not wish to be so worried."

"I see. Perhaps you could help clear a few things up for me? You're mother is often too cryptic."

Emil actually laughed a little. "Yes, indeed she is. And I would like to know what she's told you."

"She left a letter for me to find this morning, and I did. It was not written to her, but to you," Emil's face blanched, and I had a hard time continuing. I barely got the next phrase out because I suspected Emil knew what I would say. "It was from Joshua Uley," my mind cringed inwardly on the name, "she knew where I am from, and she admitted leaving it out. She wanted to know my reaction, and I believe she hoped I would know more about Lia."

"That's where you were going with your questions," Emil sighed.

"Yes."

"You may very well know more than us. We know little about what will happen to Lia. Joshua told me there were ancient legends of magic in his tribe, and that is all. You seem proof that those legends are not merely stories. I never expected he would become an essential part of my family." Emil shook his head.

It was my turn to be stunned. He had to be implying that Roxanna had imprinted on Joshua. That's why he'd never left. Mrs. Uley, Teresa Call, and I were exactly the same, romantic causalities of imprinting, only this meant I had a chance to break it. Did that mean they were shape shifters, too?

_Ring, ring_

"Damn! I apologize." I looked at my phone. It was Jake. "It's my… leader," I told Emil uneasily. He returned inside. I walked out into the grapes.

"Jacob? Crap is it two o'clock already? I'm so sorry I didn't call you. I can't wait to be in your head for once." I fleetingly remembered the panic I'd had over memories of Embry and me, and marveled at how easy it was to suppress. So much had taken its place.

Jacob laughed. "There's something I'll never hear again." I couldn't laugh with him.

I was too worried about how I was going to hide Embry's parentage until I could give him some warning and break it to him that he had not only a half brother, but a half sister as well! Why me?!?!? God must have thought I'd somehow be the best one since I had been with both of them, but if that was the case his sense of humor felt a little sick.

"Earth to my beta, Leah… I said when are you going to be where you can phase?"

"Ugh, sorry. I'm so off right now."

"You're telling me. I thought you talked through things with Embry a bit."

"I did. Then I got hit with a lightning bolt of knowledge," I said scathingly.

"What? Wait, you found something else out?" Jake thought I meant something about Anica, but he made me grasp something completely unrelated. Jake and Quil both wondered whether they were really related to Embry as well. I couldn't just pull Sam and Embry aside. That'd be as a good as blurting it out right now. I changed plans.

"I did. And trust me, it's enormous, so… so, huge."

"What is it?" Jake said breathlessly.

"Alright, brace yourself, seriously, Jake, and this time I'm really sorry for bringing this up… you know how you and Quil aren't able to ask your Dad's about…"

"Embry," Jacob cut me off, "what does Anica have to do with him?" Jake sounded really confused. Yeah, no kidding.

"Listen. Before I say anything else, Embry's got a right to know first."

"You know who is father is???? Can Anica read the future or something? How would they know?" Jacob was almost shrieking.

"I'm afraid of giving too much away. I don't want you to guess it, no matter who you guess."

"Jesus, Lee- I know you're right but I don't know what to do now," he paused, " I wish my Dad could have just spoken up."

"Ugh, I hate not telling you things, but I think it's more complicated than that." Joshua Uley was committed to shielding the family of Roxanna and Lia. He couldn't expose them. I was sure that's why he hadn't said anything. That didn't explain what he was doing in India in the first place with TWO different families at home. He'd still hear it from me over that.

"It is if this Anica's involved somehow. When is she going to tell you what they can do, or what they are? What happens if they're some clan of shape-shifter killers?"

"Trust me, I've thought of that, but I haven't exactly been open either. They're helping Jake, and they're not really bothering me, considering. I wonder if I should tell Teresa Call I know the truth. You think she should tell Embry?"

"I doubt it- she's been in on the secret too long, he doesn't trust her enough."

"You're right. I'm sorry Jake; I know this affects you too."

"Can I ask you something? How are you not going to blurt it out tonight?"

"I'm not sure. And how is Embry not going to kill me for not calling him right away?"

"Well you can't just call him out of the blue with news like that. Maybe you two should phase first- I'll tell Quil, Sam, and Embry to hold back. Sam isn't staying anyway- he's just going to be connected to me to coordinate the lookouts."

"I suppose," I couldn't think of a better idea, "thanks, Jake."

"You realize I'm going nuts wondering who Embry's brother is now," he didn't make me answer, "Tell Embry, he _needs_ to know. We'll phase in at 4:30 rather than 4- it'll give Sam more time anyway."

"Alright." I hung up the phone. What was I supposed to say to Embry? And what was this meeting about anyway? I felt like I'd gone through a whole new lifetime in one day, and the worst was probably still to come!

*****

POV: Embry

Place: that Netherland's beach

Time: right where he left off…

I would have run toward where I thought the scream was coming from, but I quickly realized it wasn't on land. I ran toward the water and I didn't see anything at first, but then I realized there was a small island sticking out on the horizon a couple hundred yards away. Thankfully, my swimming skills had improved dramatically since my transformation. I still hoped no vampires were waiting in the water. I hadn't smelled anything, but it didn't mean much. I couldn't phase, I had no time to safely hide my clothes and really, where would I leave them? Most of my things were back at the hostel. I ran into the water and it took me a good twenty minutes to reach the island. There were more snarls and growls, but no more screams. I hoped that meant someone was fighting back, rather than a victim who'd been silenced. I ran through some trees near the beach and smelled the vampire for the first time. I threw off my clothes and phased almost without thinking.

"_Embry! Help me!" _I heard immediately. _What the hell? _It was a female voice, and not Leah's.

"_How do you know who I am?" _I couldn't see where they were, but I followed the smell and moved in. An extremely fast, young, (by the looks of it) small, dusky wolf was fighting a… newborn, in a small clearing. I could see his eyes. He looked about 16, and he was sort of pale and dark, like Laurent was. In the wolf's head I saw what must be the effect of a pure adrenaline rush. She was terrified, but she was using her instincts to run from the newborn's attacks. Her mind was zoned in. Somehow, she knew how to avoid him, and she even managed to bite him once. It was still a miracle he hadn't gotten his arms around her. He was closing in on her, doing most of the shrieking. I saw all this in thirty seconds. I ran forward to help, and the newborn turned to concentrate on the obvious new threat. After I got in a few swipes, the young female turned her attention back to me-

"_I only know how to feint_!" She panicked.

My brain froze for a split second. _Feinting was a skill we'd learned from our parents through Sam, really. One wolf would rush forward as if to attack, the other would grab the bloodsucker from behind._ _Who was she? We'd have to work together though, she was right. "Listen, when I move left, run in between us like you're helping me- bring his focus on you!"_

"_Right."_

As soon as I moved left, the girl feinted perfectly. She was small enough to slip past me and make it look like she was trying to be sneaky about it. The newborn went right for her, almost turning completely around. I leaped right on his back and snapped his neck. The vampire dropped to the ground before he caught her. I ripped him to shreds and scattered them for the moment. I stared at the new wolf in the next instant, and got the biggest surprise yet. She phased back right in front of me, and where the wolf had been was now a young girl, no more than 12. I turned my eyes away immediately, and ran for my shirt. I flung it in her direction with my teeth. I waited, completely perplexed.

"Ok, Embry," came a relatively deep, quiet voice, for one so young, that was strangely accented.

I turned around. The shirt acted like a nightgown, it was enormous on her. I got my first real look at her and my breath came out in a pant. Her hair was as dark as mine, and her skin looked like an odd mix of Uta's and my own, almost as if she were our child. But her features- she had the same nose as me, and the same shaped face.

"My name is Lia."

*****

**I'd keep going, but I wanted to FINALLY get a chapter up, and it was a cool place to pause. I promise I have more ideas. I've also written a story for the "Bella's Lullaby of Broadway" contest, from Jake's point of view, called, **_**I would not be like that bloodsucker, **_**and I'm soon to finish another about Kate and Garrett. Please, please review, and go vote on my poll! Lots of love!**

**TE**


	12. Chapter 12

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. (The new groups: Anica and her family and Embry's new friends are mine, and I'm quite proud of them, and how I've wound them into the Twilight universe.) **

**Here's the big chapter you've all been waiting for, (well, my little band of followers anyway,) and the initial idea that inspired this story in the first place. Much Love to Loyal Leah and Embry fanatics. I only got 3 reviews last chapter, I don't know why, but please, tell me what you think! Like I wrote on my profile, the poll about whether or not Leah and Embry will find love is now closed. And on a random note, you'll see I needed to come up with the name of one of those last wolves that joined the pack in Breaking Dawn. (Don't worry; this doesn't give anything away,) I knew Stephenie Meyer often used names of her family and friends, and I unknowingly added another of her son's names into the story, Gabe. I got the name off a page of Romanian names. In this story, Gabriel was Anica's husband and dearest love. Seth is already prominently used, so her 3****rd**** son became the "new" Wolf mentioned here, and his name is Eli.**

**I noticed a mistake in the last chapter, when Jake speaks of Leah and Embry phasing first, he said he'll tell Quil, Sam, and Embry to hold back. Of course he means Quil, Sam, and Seth. Whoops. **

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 12- Finding My Road

"_You just call on me brother, when you need a hand; we all need somebody, to lean on. I just might have a problem that you understand- we all need somebody, to lean on. If there is a load, you have to bear, that you can't carry, I'm right up the road; I'll share your load, if you just call me." –Lean on Me, by Bill Withers_

POV: Embry

Place: The same island.

Time: Day 12, right where we left them.

"Lia," I repeated. Oh the irony.

"L-I-A," my look-a-like quickly clarified, "not like how Leah Clearwater spells it." She knew Leah too? (She pronounced Leah, "Lay-Ah.") My eyes probably leapt out of my head, or my head spun around, because she added yet another explosive to the TNT building in my brain. Or maybe the fuse…

"I'm Lia Uley, although technically my parents aren't married to each other," I staggered back. She was half-Quileute? Sam has a sister? No wonder she looked like me…wait a second. Lia looked up at me at that moment I think, although it was hard to tell because I had put my hands over my face, and she said almost to herself- "you look like you're about to keel over. You have no clue who I am, do you? Papa never said anything? That's so weird."

WHAT? "Are you trying to say we have the same father?" SAM. WE WERE RIGHT. SAM IS MY HALF-BROTHER. DID I JUST SAVE MY HALF-SISTER THAT I DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED IN THE FUCKING NETHERLANDS? WHAT ARE THE FUCKING ODDS OF THAT? "I don't even know who my father is!" My voice got only a little closer to the screaming voice in my head. She didn't need me yelling at her after her traumatic transformation and first vampire kill. She was 12, maybe. I wasn't heartless. And none of this was her fault anyway!

At my words Lia paled. "What?!?!" She burst into tears, but tried to continue anyway. "I'm sorry, I've just been dreaming about this day since I was 4 years old, since the first time Papa ever told me about my fearsome, amazing big brothers, Sam and Embry," my heart jumped at the easy pairing in her words, "and then when he heard that Leah transformed and there might be a chance that I could join you…" her speech sped up, "he passed down what little he could, just in case…I've wanted to meet you more than anything in the world, so when grandmother told Mama it was possible that YOU were in Europe, I had to find you…but I got captured by Cole on the way…" she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

I could barely take in what she was saying, but I heard enough to interrupt, "Wait, who's Cole?"

"'Who _was _Cole?' you mean," She said proudly, breaking into a kind of superior half-smile and crossing her arms.

"Ah, past tense. Leech- got it."

"Leech, that's funny!" she burst out.

"We think so," I said with my own laugh. Whoa, my first nice moment with my half- no… I breathed out- I knew from now on I'd never think of her as a half-sister. I figured now I'd be hard pressed to ever get her off my tail, ever. It didn't matter that I never knew she existed. Abruptly I grinned at her again, and she smiled back a little confused, but pleased, I thought.

I spoke evenly. "Joshua Uley is our father?"

She nodded tentatively.

"Sam is our half-brother?" I questioned her again.

"Yes," ….she sort of squeaked this time, actually, but then her voice returned with a vengeance, "How did no one tell you?" She was indignant on my behalf. Aww…

"Come here little sis," I said, opening my arms. Lia ran into them with a dazzling smile illuminating her whole face. I have a sister. I have a brother. I have _siblings_. I'm actually an Uley. Those phrases ran through my head a million times. I didn't even try to figure out what came next, for the moment. I gave her just a mini bear-- well, _wolf_-hug, since she wasn't yet as strong as we were... (Wow, she felt warm to me!) And said, "Thank you for filling the hole in my family." For the first time since I'd phased I felt like I'd had a grounding within those who were closest to me. It was plain that Lia and I were related, and she'd always known it. Sam and I had always been her big brothers, even far away. I saw a tear escape Lia's eye again; she couldn't blink it away fast enough to hide it from me. Brave girl- unsurprising. It was probably only the chaos of this meeting that had saved me from breaking down myself.

I took the next 20 minutes to go searching for the pieces of vampire. Lia found sticks and leaves to burn him with. She remained quiet for me; it would be easy for anyone to tell I needed it. What did I do now? I had Jake's meeting to go to. Did Lia have to join in, technically? We could hear each other, which meant she was a member of Jacob's pack too, right? Lia was struggling to hide her weariness. I couldn't just spring a new member on them, and besides, I wouldn't throw Lia to the… ha-ha… more irony…my face twitched once and then I frowned. Would Lia be in trouble with her family for running away? Would someone come for her? Wasn't Leah _with _Lia's family? What was with fate that she'd ended up there? What would Leah say and how would she deal with another female who was so young? Did they know she was missing? How much did Leah know, anyway? Too many unanswered questions! When the purple cloud of smoke was rising, I pulled out my cell phone out of a large pants pocket. I had to make contact with Leah- oh shit! Of course it got ruined by my swim.

I was sidetracked by Lia falling to the ground, twitching, thrashing, groaning and yelling. I put the phone away and ran to her. "Lia!" She didn't answer. She was still yelling, she couldn't answer me, but that also meant she was breathing clearly enough to scream. "What can I do?" I shouted. She shook her head forcefully. She scrunched her face in concentration, looking like she was trying to fight off the pain. Finally, she was still. She exhaled forcefully, and tried to sit up. I helped her. She was hyperventilating to catch her breath. "Lia?" I asked quietly. She looked up at me.

"Cole bit me, a week ago. I think my body is trying to fight it off. I go through these fits... but don't worry, they look worse than they are."

Bitten by a vampire! "How can I not be worried?" I half-shrieked, 'vampire venom is supposed to be fatal to us!" I was horrified.

"But I have magic from both sides," she answered earnestly, "My grandmother and mother, and so most likely I…" she trailed off.

"Yes?" I breathed out. Were they immune to vampire venom?

"I don't know how to explain. I'm so tired." As soon as she said that Lia keeled over in my arms and vomited over my leg.

"I'm sorry," she said weakly, "I think it's a reaction."

I ignored my questions, they could wait. I picked her up and carried her to some shade. She was pretty sturdy and probably tall for her age, though awfully limp, at the moment. "Don't you dare apologize. You need rest. I assume the bloodsucker was following me only close enough to keep up?"

"Yes." Her voice was a whisper now.

"Where did he keep you?" She pointed out in front of her, and kept directing me with her hands. I saw a makeshift cave had been dug out of a large rock. In it were some provisions and clothes for Lia. She changed and gave me back my shirt. I was a little confused. "So he definitely wanted you alive, but he bit you," I stated.

"I wasn't feeling the beginnings of my transformation until a few days ago, and then I only phased very briefly, when he was distracted by a human. We were in the outskirts of Amsterdam at the time. Before then it would have been suicide to try and escape, I'd never get away from a vampire. I was afraid he'd kill me, or worse, you." She said directly. My life meant more to her then hers? I'd have to watch her then. I wasn't about to lose her now. I reached out and hugged her again. She looked up as she continued, "I felt stronger today so I screamed and gambled, and you heard me," she finished her explanation with an easy, sleepy, grin.

Thank God. "I did." I couldn't risk leaving her alone to phase and I didn't want to. I just wanted to be with my sister. I was sad Sam still didn't know. Lia dozed off, still leaning against me. How was I going to keep in touch with Leah and Jake when I didn't even know what time it was? Lia still came first. My only choice was to keep an eye on her to watch for any signs of the reaction to the bite, and then phase in a little while and hope I'd have company.

*****

POV: Leah, pack mind.

Place: the cave Eveline leads her to in the Vosges Mountains.

Time: about 3:30, same day.

Eveline showed me where the cave was, up way off any main trail and practically impossible to get to for anyone but a supernatural being, it was off this ledge that was deadly steep. She left me alone. I didn't know if Anica or Emil was watching me, but I wanted their trust anyway, especially Emil's now- Anica and my relationship was secure. I'd tried Embry a few times, but his phone was inexplicably off- it went straight to voice mail. I called Jake, and he said he got the same result. We were both horribly worried. Embry wouldn't simply be ignoring us now, something was definitely wrong. My mind raced through a million possibilities, but I couldn't understand how or why a vampire would be trailing him now. Had we crossed a Volturi soldier by chance? What if I never saw him again? I paced around the cave. I had an hour before Sam, Jake, Seth, and Quil all joined the mind link. The only thing I could think to do was phase, so I took off the shift Anica had lent me and stretched out onto four legs to see if Embry might be trying to contact us.

_Apparently not. I used the time to try to figure out how I was going to gradually reveal my thoughts to explain what I knew. At least all the prime candidates for being Embry's half-brother, his real half-brother, and my own brother would finally know the truth. Then I started in on how to help my Embry and Sam deal… that was harder. Would they even want my help now? Would Sam want to find Embry in the Netherlands? Would they both insist on traveling to Joshua? What would Anica say? Where was Embry? Why couldn't we reach him?_ _I became aware of another voice. _

"_Em?!?" _ My thoughts reacted instinctively.

"_Nope, I almost wish I were though now, at least someone would know where he is! He hasn't phased in yet? It's four o'clock. I'm going rather insane here. Edward's had to hold me back from taking off for the Netherlands about 10 times, I actually wish Alice could see our future for once, and I think Jasper's had to use all his concentration to keep me from breaking everything in sight."_

Jake showed me he was phased in an odd place, inside a huge ball room of an old manor. Emmett and Carlisle were standing at the entrances on opposite sides, and Jasper and Edward were hovering over him. _That's Europe for you. "Bella's with Ness I assume?"_

"_Yes," _Jake answered briskly.I saw Edward say something but I couldn't quite pick it up, and Jasper nodded in agreement.

"_What was that?" I barely got the question out before I was processing Jake's response._

"_Edward can hear and Jasper can feel I'm not the only stressed wolf- they say you've got to zone in further, Lee, you've got the harder job with no supernatural help."_

"_Don't push me. You don't want me to blurt out my secrets now, do you?"_

Jake huffed. _"You're right,"_ he listened to Edward again, and said, _"Edward disagrees. He thinks it's bad for your mind to be so overloaded."_

"_But what about Embry?" _I worried.

"_Embry's inexplicably gone. We've got to be prepared for anything now. Since when have we ever operated under ideal conditions?"_

"_You've got a point." _I paused, and then purposely breathed out one thought, "_Sam."_

"_Sam?" _Jake repeated questioningly.

"_Embry's name should be Uley." I felt a wordless mix of relief and sadness emanating from Jake's mind_. _He would have liked to be Embry's brother, but not under those conditions. _I saw Jasper and Edward clap Jacob on his shoulder.

"_Thanks guys," _He answered all of us. _"The truth is always better."_

"_I wish the two brothers actually knew," _I responded wistfully.

"_I wish Embry were here! Edward says we'll all be there for Sam and Embry when it's time, and Jasper's getting anxious, surprise, surprise, but they're right. We've got a meeting to hold. Sam's going to phase in for the very first few minutes to connect to me, but he doesn't want to be in the way."_

"_What about Em?"_

Edward had the answer. He spoke directly into Jake's ear, and Jake concentrated only on the words, so they'd resonate clearly in my head. Jake nodded along_. _"_If Embry's had to hide, or worse, been taken somehow, there could be plenty of reasons why he's not reaching out to you. The only thing we can do is to try to have you stay phased as long as possible, but it's dangerous Leah. You don't want to give yourself away either. Someone could have tracked you as well."_

"_Are you certain a vampire is involved?" _I asked. Edward shook his head slowly, a frown escaping his composure.

"_So what's the new plan?" _I asked.

"_Hold on… is that… I think I hear Sam._ _Now I've got to hold back…sigh…wait a sec."_

_I pulled my mind back as much as I could and concentrated on the cave wall, so there'd be nothing from me in Jake's mind. _He was back 20 seconds later.

"_Ok Leah, I had two pieces of news for my pack that Sam wanted me to discuss with all of you together, but in light of Embry's disappearance we're not going to get the whole group. Here comes Seth and Quil, according to Sam. Don't ask me about the second one yet. It's a headache you don't need now, in my opinion," Jake was struggling to hold back, I could tell. I was too worried about Embry to press it, "but the first piece of news now seems far more pressing anyway-_

"_Hey guys," _Jake and I said together as Quil and Seth joined us. _I knew exactly where they were, I could see the place we'd meet up to switch off for patrols. I shook off the flash of homesickness and no one commented._

"_Sam's phasing back to human, he'll update Rosalie and Emmett- Seth, update Leah." Jake continued._

"_Hey Lee- Quil and I were on a patrol and found these strange marks on the trees that no one could identify, soon after you guys left. We told Sam, and we kept an eye out, but nothing else happened, so we weren't going to bother you with it. What could you do about it anyway? But now Eli and Paul found footprints earlier, so Sam wants us all to spread out to watch for intruders, they're just waiting on us." _

"_Something is very wrong." _I chimed in. _I don't know what._

"_Definitely. Emmett, Rosalie, and Sam will be in three directions, and Sam's staying closest to where the marks were found." Seth showed us a tract of land way east almost near the stream by the Cullen house, right in our old patrol area. "I can see Eli and Paul off in the distance, it's almost time."_

"_Sam's back. Hey Sam, do you see anything…"_

_He trailed off cause we all heard it- a loud howl. Everyone except Sam, since Jake wasn't consciously sending it. _

"_What was that?" _Jake yelled.

"_Shit, it's Eli!" _Quil answered. Quil and Seth took off running. _I watched the trees blur past as they finally reached Paul and Eli. Paul was fighting an unfamiliar massive tan wolf that was almost as big as he was- we watched in horror. What the fuck? Eli hadn't phased in time, he was lying on the ground, the victim of the wolf's initial attack. Since when did wolves randomly attack humans? Where did this one come from?_

_Jake's voice intruded on the scene. "Sam! Sam! What the hell? Sam where are you? Answer me, damn it! Ugh- Seth help Eli" _Seth was already leaning over him,_ "Quil- run for Colin and Brady, Paul might need it. Sam can't hear me!" _Quil took off again.

"_What?" _Seth, Quil, and I yelled.

"_He's not answering!"_

_I watched as Jake continued to try to re-connect with Sam, Seth had phased back and had picked Eli up to carry him home. "Find Rosalie and Emmett, they can help, and then bring them to the fight!"- _Edward in Jake's ear again, _and then I saw him tell Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett._ _The wolf was more interested in fighting Paul._ _Paul wasn't losing, but nor could he seem to get the upper hand either. _My scene changed in an instant.

_ I heard a very faint rustling coming from outside my cave, and then a louder rustling got my attention at my exposed back, so I turned._ _Another enormous wolf …black this time and larger than me was waiting for me outside looking kind of, deranged almost. It freaked me out. It was like Sam, but… insane. Did it have rabies or something? I finally put it together. I looked up and sure enough I could see a full moon amid some clouds. It didn't matter that it wasn't dark yet. "Jake, Paul's fighting a werewolf! It's a full moon!"_ _Suddenly I had to concentrate on a potential fight- I couldn't watch what was happening with my brothers. The werewolf didn't attack, but a kind of hunger radiated from blank eyes that were concentrated solely on me. _

"_Leah, Edward says don't go at him directly, werewolves are completely unpredictable, try to get around him, you might be able to, and then kick it into your fastest gear." _The werewolf stayed completely still.

"_Wait a second, what if… what if I'm surrounded by a family of werewolves?" Anica couldn't be a werewolf, could she? Did they live in families? They were Romanian, but, no… I did as Edward instructed and barely missed gnashing teeth through my tail. I'd just have to watch for others… I ran back down the mountain, the werewolf was as agile as I was, but not as fast. I leaped boulders, rushed around trees, and scrambled as low as I could through any brush I could find, beating my body on limbs. Near the bottom of the mountain and almost to the vineyard I could see nothing out of the ordinary. A human had his back to me. I'd have to keep the werewolf away somehow! The human turned, it was Emil- with a rifle! He lifted it and pointed it straight at me. He shot twice, but I was too far away. I still scrambled instinctively from the sound. Suddenly, a flash of silver knocked Emil to the ground. I panicked, rushing forward even harder, and I lost my brothers' thoughts. What happened!?!_

"_Leah, watch your back young one, we must fight!" What? Whose voice was…?_

_I saw the silky silver animal rise off of Emil, he was unhurt, and he was staring at it, panicked, but looking to him… her… oh!… for guidance. She motioned with her head for him to return to the house and he obeyed immediately._

_The animal finally turned and stared directly at me. _She had glossy silver fur all over, and she was smaller than me, but still huge compared to the normal species, like an oversized tiger_,_ with bright green cat eyes, paws, pointed ears, and large tufts of fur protruding in the same way her whiskers did_- A LYNX. _

"_ANICA?" _ _My mind was on overdrive to process her incredible appearance, thank God, because at that moment the werewolf caught up to us. _

"_Yes Leah, you're being chased by our mortal enemy; I'm going to need your help. I haven't phased like this in 40 years, but I couldn't let Emil shoot you."_

_My mind immediately flashed back to the story of our greatest leader, Taha Aki. "What do I do?"_

"_Follow my lead!" Anica charged and met the werewolf head on. She was easily as fast as I was. She was dodging the werewolf's jaws and going for its throat. I ran in to go for his legs, trying to knock him over._

"_Leah, you are faster, swipe quickly at the throat, and use your strength!" Just like Paul, our fight was a standstill. The werewolf dodged awkwardly, and used mostly his paws. His strikes with his jaws followed no logic I could see. I continually went for his head, while Anica bounded and scurried under his feet. I finally got a hold of his neck and hung on from my mouth. The werewolf howled and swatted into my head, but I clung on. Anica pushed her entire body into it, knocking him over, and sunk her teeth right into his jugular. She nudged me off and leaned into me to prop me up. I was a little fuzzy from the hit. Anica looked down at the dead… but the werewolf had lost its power and become a man again, lying broken on the ground. He had long black hair and a complexion I was quickly beginning to associate with being Romanian. "No," Anica said, somewhat briskly I thought, "he was Czech."_

"_Did you know him?" I yelped, almost aloud. Anica refused to answer and I got nothing from her mind. I saw Emil running towards us again, accompanied by four Lynxes. Emil must not have been born with the ability…_

"_No." Anica said calmly. The four Lynxes paused and stared at me- they were all varying shades of red, brown, grey, and silver. I couldn't hear anything from them, I could only hear Anica. They each had very distinct scents that were difficult to describe, and rather faint, and those same bright eyes I'd noticed before. A smaller reddish one phased back. It was Kathryn. She was nude for a moment, and just like us Wolves, carried clothing attached to her leg. I kept my eyes off her as she dressed in a similar shift to what I had worn to the mountain. The largest one had to be Lucian, he was a lighter brown, with dark stripes, that matched his hair, and I guessed Eveline to be greyer, like her grandmother, and Simona to be the a tan, spotted Lynx._

Kathryn finished and lowered her head slightly. "It would be easier if you'd phase back Leah. We're extremely grateful to you," Kathryn began.

_I found myself looking to Anica as if she were my… "I believe you are right," she answered my thought with one of her own, "you are dependent on a leader, and you chose me, for now. That is most likely why you can hear me. I doubt your brothers' thoughts have ceased completely. But as Lynxes, we shape-shifters are not bound the same way, we are quite individualistic. You are affected by our magic now as your fate combines with ours. We hear each other's thoughts the way your Alphas, Sam, and Jake do. Try calling out to Jake." Anica got her knowledge directly from my head now._

_I concentrated on Jake's mind. "Jake?"_

"_Leah! Holy shit! Thank God you're ok, so are we- Paul's werewolf did a Victoria déjà vu and bolted. What happened to you though? Can you still hear us? Why can't I see where you are?" I could barely see the ballroom._

"_I'm still not entirely sure Jake, but don't worry about me just now. Anica helped me kill the werewolf."_

"_Anica did?" _

"_Yes, Jake- we're not the only shape shifters on the planet! They're a lot like us, but they're Lynxes. They're enemies of the werewolf."_

"_That's why we were so hesitant around Leah; we sensed a wolf-presence. I'm sorry, Jacob, I am Anica. I'm attempting to contact you the way we normally do, it works in the same way you speak to Sam."_

"_I hear you loud and clear- so this is the famous Anica!" A grin came from Anica's mind, _and Jake continued_, "Thank you for helping her!"_

"_On the contrary, it was she who helped me. You must tell me of your legend of Taha Aki one day, for I am curious as to why Leah is comparing me to him. I hope it is favorable."_

"_Oh it is! Jake, she literally transported a legend to life here, she hasn't phased in 40 years. Her son Emil was staggered!" I thought of Emil's reaction- no wonder; he'd never seen his mother as a Lynx. _

"_Wow," _Jake thought.

"_I would not have survived if it weren't for Leah. Emil could not have run for the others in time."_

"_Sounds like excellent team work then," _Jake answered.

"_I wonder if the Lynx magic is breaking into the pack somehow. They can work together, but they're not one big group Jake. Maybe that's why you lost Sam's link," I considered._

"_Perhaps. I want to explain more to Leah, Jacob, and see if we can figure out what happened this evening together. I would include you in the discussion as my ally, but my family is looking toward Leah. They are still very nervous."_

"_I understand. Get some rest Leah, and I'll fill you in tomorrow about Seth. He's proven himself again…" Jacobs's thoughts broke with a chuckle. "He really is something else." Hopefully you'll have some answers when you and Anica put your heads together. Edward and I will fill our group in. I'm proud of you Lee."_

"_As am I, young one," Anica agreed with Jake, "You have begun on your path."_

_Jake pulled his mind back and Anica returned to human. I followed her. _I noticed Anica's eyes fade right before my eyes, losing the intensity in them. Everyone was staring at Anica, watching the change. Emil held a bag which he passed off to Kathryn. She handed us shifts, and we put them on. "We are allies, now, because of your choice," Anica said. I couldn't speak. I think I smiled at her. I felt like I was going through my transformation all over again, only this time I had chosen it. She was right. This must be the path I'd been searching for. I looked out into the rows of grapes toward the house. I felt as if I could fly right through them. The sunset at the edge of the horizon burned brighter and more colorful than any I'd ever seen. The sun was still a golden, incandescent ball of confidence. It looked like a sunrise to me, even as the violet darkness encompassed the sky. I remembered Bella and her hopes that I'd repeated to Embry. It seemed Twilight meant a new destiny for me, and hell- it was a full moon, anything could happen.

**Yay! Be happy for Lee and Embry, for the most part… don't worry, I haven't forgotten what I've interrupted! I'm very excited people finally know the truth about Anica's family, and I'm rather proud of this chapter I think… it was in shreds and it came together really well, so please press the little button below. Thank you!**

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	13. Chapter 13

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. (The new groups: Anica and her family and Embry's new friends are mine, and I'm quite proud of them, and how I've wound them into the Twilight universe.)**

**Initially had a massive author's note that didn't have much to do with anything and that I re-wrote like six times, anyway. No one wants to read my ramblings; they want to read my story! It seems as if my readership is growing, which is very cool, and I send much thanks to you all. I found some mistakes in chapter 12, so I fixed them. I get so eager to post the chapters when I'm done, I post too quickly I suppose. I tried to re-read this one through a few times, so I hope it's clear, intelligible, and that you like it! It's shorter, again, but it was too good a place to stop. Happy 2010! **

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_Doing Good_

"In the way this strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

Chapter 13 – Uniting the Eccentrics

"There are some trees, Watson, which grow to a certain height and then suddenly develop some unsightly eccentricity. You will see it often in humans. I have a theory that the individual represents in his development the whole procession of his ancestors, and that such a sudden turn to good or evil stands for some strong influence which came into the line of his pedigree. The person becomes, as it were, the epitome of the history of his own family." –_The Adventures of Empty House, _by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

POV: Embry, pack mind

Time: Unsure- seemingly about 4:00pm Amsterdam time, 3pm Dublin time, 8am Seattle time, "the time of the meeting" still day 12

Place: Around Lia's cave, some island off the south coast of the mainland- The Netherlands (and Ireland and La Push)

I hated having to leave Lia inside the cave, but I walked out only far enough to phase safely. Jake was going to hunt me down and tear my legs off if I couldn't reach him and Leah wouldn't be far behind. In retrospect, it might not be the smartest thing to sleep with your pack's Beta._ I thought I had a good sense of time, so I tried phasing at what I thought would be a half hour, give or take, to finally update my Alpha on all that had happened to me and my incredible discovery. _There was no one at first-_ which was very weir and I cursed myself for not thinking of protecting my phone somehow, _and then babble took over, there was a pronounced howl, panic, and snarling, until I concentrated harder.

"_Wait, who is that?" _A particular voice yelled in my head for the first time in months…_ how_ _in the hell…"Embry?" _the voice was doubtful.

"_Yes!" _I answered, "But_ how are we hearing each other, Sam, what's going on?" Thinking his name brought an automatic rush of memories into my brain. I couldn't help it. Foremost in my head was the new wordless expression of kinship that ran even deeper than the pack. It was mind-boggling, insane, nuts, and seriously intense to climb into your brother's mind, the brother you didn't know you had, and yet the Brother I had followed for over a year and a half as my Alpha._

_Sam wasn't concentrating on me and I could see why. The snarling was coming mostly from Paul,_ _who was fighting a substantial tan wolf we didn't recognize, yet still slighter than he was. Most of the others were too far out to help him, and human, they hadn't anticipated this level of danger from some kind of clues that they had? I only got vague pictures. Young Eli was lying human on the ground, and Sam was pushing furiously to get to him, but he was almost by the Cullens house. _

"_I had them spread out; I'll explain why I'm so far out later!" _Sam thought. _"Jake, Jake… are you there? Shit, Jake! I can't get through!"_

"_Why isn't Jake answering?" _I even tried._ "Hey! Jacob Black! Earth to my Alpha!" Paul wasn't in the mind link at first, but he had phased as soon as he saw the wolf... attack Eli? What normal wolf would go after us? We focused on Paul, it was awful for me watch so far away, and we saw Quil and Seth enter the picture. They had heard Paul's howl of rage then. _Seth phased back to human immediately and picked Eli up, and then took off again. Quil, still phased, ran in another direction. Paul couldn't fight off the wolf completely.

"_Why isn't Jake answering?" Sam yelled, "I can hear you perfectly!"_

"_Maybe I've jumped packs again Sam. We're…"_

"_Maybe," Sam answered briskly. I saw he couldn't even take it in, just yet, and others were joining us. _

_Colin- "Hey boss, what, whoa, Paul's got a four-leg and snoutful there! Jake told Quil to run for us and Seth's got Eli back home…"_

_Brady-"Is that Embry?"_

"_Yes, you guys can hear me for now." _I chimed in quickly. _For some unknown reason._

_Sam and I saw Quil, Colin, and Brady tear full out back to Paul. Suddenly, a larger tan wolf bolted out of the trees and leaped onto the back of the first, causing an ear-piercing yelp of surprise from Paul's attacker. It managed to throw Seth off. Suddenly, the attacker turned and bolted for no apparent reason, and all our wolves, including Sam, took off following. I followed them with my mind, but the rogue wolf was too fast. They lost it after ten minutes. Seth was the first to change back._

"Leah thinks it was a werewolf," he spoke aloud, "I heard her tell Jake, and I think she's right, since as soon she thought it she had her own to deal with. Look it's clear out! Embry, can you see the moon?"

_I bet she's right! _I looked up. Sam nodded his head vigorously to convey my answer, and then phased himself.

"What happened with Leah?" He asked quickly. _I wanted to know that myself- wait, she was under attack? _I snarled. Quil took the opportunity to phase.

"Oh don't worry, we agree Embry. I saw Leah take off with another werewolf right on her tail. We lost contact only a minute later." Now I only had Sam, Colin, and Brady to listen through.

"_What?" _Sam thought. He howled out the sound we'd come to associate with that question.

Quil continued, "None of us, Jake, Seth, or I could hear her. I'm going to check in with Jake again."

Sam and I nodded in agreement, though only Colin and Brady could see it. _Colin and Brady's minds felt extremely uncomfortable._

"_No, I don't need you guys right now." _Sam thought the answer before either even asked. _And then I was left alone with my half-brother, and it seemed, my Alpha, again. _Sam ran from the others as Brady explained. _They'd all felt it slightly through the mind link anyway._ _Sam didn't question me, but I knew he'd seen and heard what I couldn't hold back initially. He was repeating what I'd given him, wondering how exactly I'd found out the truth. _

_I let my mind pass all the way from Lia's scream, my rushing to help her defeat Cole and her overwhelming clarification of how she came to be there, who she was, and all it might mean. I concentrated hardest on what Lia had said, so Sam could take in that WE had a half-sister. Nothing light about this conversation! Sam didn't answer me consciously and I reached out into his head to give him as much support as I could. Lord knows I had needed it. There wasn't much that was verbal, anyway. I heard almost the same phrases that I had used myself._

"_We're really brothers..? You're an Uley? ….I have TWO half siblings?" _One tear escaped his massive eye and he brushed his head against his fur. _I hadn't seen any tears in Sam's eyes since he'd been forced to leave Leah…_

"_Well, what do you expect, bro? It's not like you were calm." _I chuckled in reponse. _"Leah better be alright, we'll have to go back in a moment, I want to know why I lost my connection to Jake, and what happened with Leah's…wait, so no wonder you liked her."_

_Oh God. "Shit, Sam, that's really Ok?" _I inquired anxiously.

"_It's better now that I've known for a bit. I'm glad I wasn't near you when Leah called. Anyway, it's not like I can fault your taste, I should be proud, right? Just let her be for now, and if you win her, well- I'll be thrilled to call her family twice over. But, whoa, we're really brothers? You know, I'm really rooting for you now. Who else can I count on to take proper care of her but my little brother?"_

I smiled. _"This is why you weren't meant for each other," _I countered, _"You have to know Leah's the last woman who needs to be cared for."_

_Sam chuckled. "I do know that. It never matters with love, though, does it?"_

"_No, you're right; I still want to make sure she never feels any pain again." I half-snarled the thought._

"_You really love her, wow. And what about our other Lia?" Sam allowed extreme jealousy to turn the mind link bottle green. _

"_I know. But I assure you, she's desperate to know you too." I replayed Lia's tearful words again and pictured her face, _"I'm sorry, I've just been dreaming about this day since I was 4 years old, since the first time Papa ever told me about my fearsome, amazing big brothers, Sam and Embry…"

Sam's face broke into a huge grin, which quickly faded. "_I'm all the more jealous of her that she knew for so long! Now I want to go to Europe! I can't leave the tribe though." _

"_Oh I know. And I'd love for us to finally be a family now."_

"_You think it'd be alright for her to phase? I don't want her in pain… ugh, I can't help it. This is our sister!" Sam's mind was a swirl of indecision. He wanted to talk to her, but we were worried. Lia's face in my head made up my mind._

"_I think she'd try to kill me if I didn't wake her, and that's saying something. I'll be right back." _I trotted back over to the cave and phased back to human so I wouldn't startle her. I threw on my clothes briefly and gently shook her awake.

"Huh?" Lia spoke groggily, gradually regaining consciousness. She sat up.

I smiled. "There's someone you need to meet."

"What? Here?"

"Sort of. I'll close my eyes. You remember how to phase?"

"Sure." I turned around until Lia trotted in front of me on four legs, looking adorable- she had her head cocked to the side until she suddenly let out a yelp of pure joyfulness. She turned away from me and I joined them.

"_It's about damn time we're together." _I thought as I gained 2 extra legs and fur.

"_Language, brother, I am only 8 years old." Lia responded._

"_8?!?" _It was our turn to yelp. Sam was faster to recover.

"_You seem much older. Lia, do you know anything about werewolves? We think one of our wolf brothers, Paul, had to fight one off who attacked another, Eli. Then Leah, who's with your Grandmother Anica yes…?"_

Lia interrupted, "_What about Leah and Grandmother? Did Leah fight one off? Of course I know about werewolves, they are our greatest enemy!"_

_Lia's mind was off then, showing us all about the true secret of her family- Lynxes! Leah was right to trust them. We were not the only shape shifters on the planet! Anica could sense secrets, her cousin Eveline seemed just as psychic as Alice, and they were just as warm and would live as long…Sam and I watched in awe again. _She broke off with,_ "What color was the werewolf?" _

_Sam responded. "Black, Seth thought." _

"_Uh oh, I hope it wasn't…" Lia was interrupted. We all heard another voice call out then._

"_Sam, Sam, come in!"_

"_Jacob!" _Sam and I yelled. _Lia didn't offer anything and I felt apprehension in her head. _I pushed my head against her. We could see Jake was in a small grouping of trees, apparently alone.

"_Embry! Is that you? Finally! I can barely feel, what happened?_

_Sam didn't have Jake's problem. "Jake, Embry's fine for now, tell us what happened to Leah!"_

"_She's fine… it's kind of complicated; turns out we're not alone in…" _Jake began.

"_Turning into animals?" _Lia spoke up for the first time.

"_Who is that?" _

"_Our sister!" Sam and I thought together._

"_Oh! YOU GUYS KNOW? How is she a wolf? Oh, Joshua, of course!" _

"_Wait, how did you know… were you holding back?" Sam asked._

_Jake was the uneasy one now. "Long story. Anica kind of forced Leah into finding out, and she didn't want to just blurt it out, or just tell one of you, she promised we'd tell you Embry at the meeting that never happened, but you went missing…"_

"_I think I jumped packs again Jake, like I'm sort of automatically following my brother now. I'm not angry."_

"_Neither am I." _Sam agreed. _"So Leah's alright?"_

"_Right, of course you'd jump, I should have thought about like that. You'll know what I mean when I say Leah is Leah. Apparently your grandmother turned back into a Lynx again and the pair of them got the werewolf."_

"_What?" Lia yelled. "She retired years ago! That's impossible!"_

"_Retired?" _Sam asked.

"_She gave up being a Lynx again for good when she imprinted on my Grandpa Gabriel who was human, and then they had Uncle Emil and my Mom, Roxanna, who then imprinted… oh, well yeah, that's why Papa never went back to your home. He couldn't leave her, and he couldn't tell. Uncle Lucian is much older, he's…um," Lia was hiding something, but we didn't push her for more. _

_This meant Leah could probably have children someday. There had to be a way. But maybe she needed an imprint- who apparently wasn't me. _Jake didn't hear my unguarded, errant thoughts, _but not even Lia commented on them. Sam changed the subject slightly._

"_I think I have no choice but to come to Europe now. We all need to get the full story," Sam said gravely, "It doesn't have to be for long." _

"_I agree." _Jake answered.

"_Me too," _I thought, _snapping out of my melancholy. _

"_Me too!"_ Lia called out, _"I want to meet you for real!"_ We all shared a laugh.

"_I spoke to Anica in the same way I speak to you Sam," _Jake thought.

"_That's how all Lynxes speak in cat-form!" __Lia was so proud of how much she could contribute. _I stuck my tongue out in a wolf-grin again.

"_That's what Anica said. I think we're going to have to start calling you little-Lia, or mini-Lia, so we don't get confused," _Jake thought.

"_Grandmother always called her 'Lay-Ah,' and me "Lee-Ah.'" _

"_Yeah, that's not going to stick." _I thought, laughingly.

"_We often call her Lee. Perhaps that'd work," Sam offered._

"_Only a few of us do, she's a bit touchy about that." Jake chimed in quickly._

_I just nodded before Lia could ask too many questions, Lia was quick; she didn't need the warning in my head. "I like Jake's idea. We can call you little-Lia, and Leah can call you mini-Me!" _I said.

_Lia blew a kind of wolf-raspberry at us, but couldn't stop her laughter from seeping through her serious façade. We just laughed harder in response. _

"_I'll probably be a Wolf and a Lynx someday, and then you'll be sorry!" _She grumbled.

We stopped laughing. _"How does that work?"_ I asked.

"_We don't know yet. But it seems impossible that if my grandmother and my mother have the gene, how's it going to skip me?" _The sun was starting to go down and Lia yawned. "_Sorry guys, I'm still really tired."_

"_How are we going to get in touch with you Embry? Did your phone die or something?"_ Jake asked.

"_I had to swim to the island where we are to help Lia kill a vampire."_

"_What?" _Jake exclaimed. I quickly filled Jake in on my whole ordeal. Jake responded just as I'd thought.

"_There is really something huge going on. Don't go to sleep yet, I think you need to get back to civilization, but stay away from Amsterdam. Whoever's behind this knows you were there. You don't need anything particular from there, do you?" Jake asked._

_I thought about Uta, Nic, and Rodika. "They said they had to leave me for TODAY." _Another thought occurred to me then._ What if they are werewolves, or working with them?"_

"_They aren't- we keep track on all of them, and those aren't names I know" Lia said._

"_They could be using false names, or they could be new, right?" I disagreed._

"_Maybe," I could see Lia didn't really agree. _

"_I can't bring us back there, Lia, it's too risky." Jake and Sam inwardly nodded._

"_Now I need both of you to try to command me to do something. How will we know I'm not just going to jump packs unexpectedly again?"_

"_You're right; Anica thought some Lynx magic was breaking in because of our allegiance with them now." __Jake answered._

Sam concentrated for a moment. "_Embry Uley, I order you to return with Lia Uley anywhere but Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where you can get a new phone, contact us, and keep our half-sister safe._

_I felt it right away. "Yep, it works. Jake, you try." Jake repeated Sam's command and I felt that one as well. _

Sam thought_, "You're used to following him, plus, he can still command me too, remember, thanks to the lineage." _

"_That's probably it." _I agreed.

"_Lia Uley, I'm putting your half-brother Embry in charge of you, I order you to follow him and do what he says, no running off again now," _Jake commanded again.

"_I'm sorry. I didn't feel anything. I promise not to run away from Embry though." I felt Lia's trepidation, she was telling the truth._

"_Let the brother try… Lia, do you have someone you have to listen to in your clan?" Sam asked._

"_Not in the same way, but we all follow Uncle Alex, Alexandru, I mean. He lives with Aunt Zina lots of family in the same place as Mama, in Romania. Grandmother's brother, my great-uncle, Anton, passed the leadership to him, and now he's retired with Great-Aunt Nadia. One day Uncle Alex will pass it on to my cousin, Alin, when he's ready. He's a Lynx already- the heirs get "A" names, it's a tradition." _Sam repeated Jacob's command. _"Yep, it worked, since I chose to listen."_

"_Alright, so we'll consider all Uleys under the same pack then- man, I'll miss ya." _Jake thought sadly.

"_I'll run with Lia tonight. Lia, you can sleep on my back if you want," I thought._

"_We shouldn't run as wolves. A pack of two looks awfully strange, as does a wolf with a human girl on her back, carrying a backpack of stuff," Lia reasoned._

"_She's right. We don't need to draw any more attention to your skills," _Jake chimed in.

"_I wish I knew the area better. Can we just swim somewhere you think? Maybe we should leave the Netherlands all together," _I thought.

"_No, that will draw attention to you too- too drastic a change," _Sam answered, "_watch out for Uta, Nic, and Rodika. They may try and follow you, even if they are just humans. I'm with you though Embry, I think there's something more there. We need more clues." _

"_Oh! I know! We should go to Norway! Uncle Alex was sending Alin there to follow a werewolf named Fayina!"_

"_Fayina!?!" _I shouted as the others looked at me questioningly, _"well that settles it; drastic or not- we have to go to Norway." _

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Finally figured out where those line bars are, yay! Special shout out to the reader from Romania that single-handedly catapulted Romania into 6

**th**** place on my hits for December on this story alone, and to the 4 readers who got Norway into 5****th****. Well done! Your support influenced Embry and Lia's travels! Love to you all of course around the world. I love seeing what country is going to show up on my hits list next! This is a travel story, who knows where they'll go? I know you are a very consistent batch of readers who've put up with my inability to post consistently, so thank again! **


	14. Chapter 14

**As always, I want to thank Stephenie Meyer for dreaming up Twilight, and for putting up with all her fans, like me, who like a good twist on a dream. All characters are lovingly borrowed for entertainment purposes only, as well as all quotes and chapter titles, which are or based off of famous works and quotes. (The new groups: Anica and her family and Embry's new friends are mine, and I'm quite proud of them, and how I've wound them into the Twilight universe.) **

**THIS IS A REPLACEMENT CH, NOT AN UPDATE. I REALIZED TOO LATE THAT ONE OF MY STORY POINTS MADE NO SENSE. ALICE STILL CAN'T SEE WOLVES. HENCE, I ADJUSTED IT. HEH-WHOOPS. **

**It seems like this Author's note should be longer than the rest of the chapter based off of how long it's been since I've updated this story. I've been struggling with a play that I've been working on and other changes in my life. Part of me has just wanted to revise this story and start over, because I feel like if I can rewrite some of the chapters, I can make them better. But on the other hand if I do that, this story will never come to an end! I think I've done pretty well since I still only have vague story points in my head that I'm working toward and no true outline. It's been great experience. And if I have any readers left, I thank you all for finding me once again! **

_Doing Good_

"In the waythis strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the world without having done any good to himself or anybody else." -_Around the World in 80 Days, _by Jules Verne.

**Chapter 14- Intrigues and Tragic Self-Preservation?**

"We cannot destroy kindred: our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break. -Marquise de Sévigne

POV: Leah

Time: Evening of the double attack (Leah, Eli,) day 12

Place: Back in the library, Emil's Vineyard.

Anica broke me from my excited reverie and led me back to the house.

"Well now, that was excitement enough for one day," she mused with a brief smile. It didn't last though. We couldn't stop staring at each other. The others seemed to know to automatically keep back, and we walked straight into the library. I barely paid attention to my surroundings until Anica shut the door.

"Shouldn't your family be involved in whatever we talk about? What about your family in Romania?" The seriousness of the partnership was beginning to break through my excitement, and Anica could probably sense that, but I added, "I can't fully commit to anything without my Alphas' involvements, both of them, if you'd like to ally with us formally. I can only tell you what I think."

"That's exactly what I want right now, Leah, but first, there is something I must explain to you before we move forward." Anica was abruptly looking deadly somber- no, it was worse than that. It was downright depressed and…broken. I'd never seen such sadness on her face before. I was instantly unnerved. Anica sunk into a sofa, and I sat next to her.

"Do you need something? You must be so tired. Forgive me, but where did you get that strength after all these years?"

"Now you know the answer to that, young _Layah_. Tell me you would not find the strength if you were in my situation. A leader of shape-shifters must always have it. For the sake of their family, their people, their magic…"

"Of course, I'm being silly. You're right."

"It's not silly my _Lay-ah,_ for I cannot hide the true pain of my family for what has happened tonight. Killing that Czech man was a terrible tragedy that has stolen most of my strength. I will recover slowly, but not easily, it will be…"

A single tear broke through Anica's resolve. Pain completely destroyed her usually dignified confidence. I was shocked. I threw my arms around her as I spoke.

"I don't understand! He would have killed us; I thought he was your great…" I was interrupted by a pounding knock on the door, "your great…"

"Maică!" It was Lucian. "Mama, let me in!" he shouted.

"Enemy?" I finally finished. Anica could not hold back in response to her son's calls. She sprang up and shuffled to the door as fast as she could. She opened it and fell into Lucian's arms. His disposition almost matched his mother's as he comforted her. She kept trying to stifle her sobs, but she couldn't. I couldn't hear what he spoke at first, but then he asked loudly, "did you tell her? She needs to know."He looked up at me. Anica continued to cry softly but didn't answer.

"She told me the death of her enemy is a tragedy?" I began uncertainly, but thinking there was one thing I certain of. I meant my next assertions to be caring and reassuring. "We did what we had to. I take no happiness in murder, but if it's us or a werewolf, I'm choosing us…."

"Dariusz was not always our enemy. Tonight marks the end of an era in our family, a great sorrow, which I hope can finally begin to heal. But not without serious pain." He indicated Anica, who turned out to face me. She was quiet, but did not wipe the tears from her eyes this time. I held out my arms, and after a brief second, motioned for Lucian as well. The three of us hugged as only shape-shifters can. A normal human would have snapped in half. Anica wasn't yet that weak. Anica pulled back from the hug and spoke in a hoarse whisper, "Dariusz was my first husband- Lucian's father."

The only proper response was to drop my jaw, so I did.

She continued more vigorously, "The werewolves stole him many years ago and turned him against us. He had no idea who he was attacking. The Dariusz I knew died many years ago, but I could never properly grieve when he lurked among my enemies, one and the same, turned against all he held dear. Still, I never thought I would be the one to destroy him."

"That werewolf was not my father, Mother." Lucian spoke up. "The werewolves took the man we knew. Our sadness is for your pain, for your lost love."

"You knew him well Lucian?"

"Yes, I was almost a teenager when he was bitten. It was before I transformed fully into a Lynx, but with Anica as a mother, there didn't seem much doubt that I would. My father was passed 375 now. My mother is over 400. 350 years have passed, and she still misses her Dariusz. I do too, really, but I expected to lose my father one day. He was human. He should have been allowed to die a long time ago. Not like this."

"But I thought Gabriel was your soul mate?" I asked her.

"Yes. But one may love more than once in their life, yes?" Once again, Anica was so profound. For my own sake, I hoped that she was exactly right. Thankfully she seemed to be calmer and closer to her usual self. I realized this privacy was more for Anica than for catching me up on family history. I was glad she had it.

"I'm honored that you would let me in emotionally at a time like this." I told her. "And I'm sorry for your loss, no matter how long it's been. I've met vampire couples over 300 years apart, and it seems to make no difference in love," and I addressed Lucian, "still, Dariusz will always be your father. I'm glad you have good memories."

Anica nodded. Lucian smiled at me, squeezed my hand once, and departed. I gave Anica another hug.

"He's very impressed with you, you know- saving my life was only the final confirmation. But he is not one to lavish praise at every moment," Anica commented.

"I'm glad. I like him too. You must be proud of him," I said.

"Yes, I'm proud of all my family. I knew Emil would come around given the appropriate inducement, he is not stupid, and the others are smart enough to follow my lead." Anica chuckled once, and then sort of sighed and yawned at the same time. I helped her from the library.

"You need rest."

"Of course I do, but not until I finish the business that must be attended to. I must tell my family of a legend that was passed down to me as a little girl. I've never spoken of it because I never dreamed that the legend would ever come true again, in any of our extended lifetimes, but it might just have tonight. I'd like everyone's opinion on what is to be done next, including yours, based on what you can tell me."

"More new information?" I squeaked. "Well, I'll certainly try."

"But of course! That is life!"

POV: Embry

Time: Late evening of Day 16

Place: The coast of Norway, somewhere

Even though Lia and I had rushed as fast as we could to find her cousin Alin, it had still taken four days to get to Norway. We had decided that we were not vampires, and therefore, we couldn't simply swim across the North Sea even if it wouldn't tire us. We'd still have to stay too close to the surface to come up for air, and neither of us had any idea how to fight off any whales, sharks, and/or who knows what we'd come across in the waters. We might be spotted by any passing boats. We couldn't take the risk. Instead, it turned out that the Lynxes had about as much money as the Cullens, (how did anyone else have anything?) and the same kind of access to a number of accounts. We each bought 2 new international cell phones with sturdier cases; new clothes, a better backpack, and Lia had finally called her family in France and Romania to explain what'd happened to her. She spoke to her grandmother Anica, and we found out that both she and Leah were just fine. She was thrilled with Leah's talents, and adamant that Leah had performed a miracle in saving her and her son's life. I overheard Leah yell that she was just as grateful to Anica for her help, and I made sure to thank her for saving our Sister wolf. Lia took the phone back then to playfully reprimand her grandmother for being too modest. She was still in awe over the thought of her grandmother as a Lynx- that much was obvious. They seemed to agree with our plan. Anica never turned the phone over to Leah, there was still too much to deal with. I wasn't ready to try and hash out what all these new problems would mean for the two of us.

The next part of the plan was to try to get to Oslo unseen, and hopefully find Alin there. Alexandru called us back yesterday to tell us he'd managed to successfully get a hold of Alin through their mind link, and that he should bring Fayina to meet us, if he could. He also told us that Sam had contacted him through their way of communication, and that he would fly to meet us whenever there was a good chance we could organize ourselves and meet as a larger group. I'd kept a constant look out for Uta, Nic, and Rodika, but I never saw them. Either they were good at subterfuge and concealment, or we were simply being too cautious and it was all a big coincidence. Frankly though, I'd mostly stopped believing in coincidences after everything I'd been through in the supernatural world. Everyone seemed to know of each other, somehow.

We'd become stowaways on a massive cargo ship bound for Oslo itself, but we slipped into the water, (this time with waterproofed supplies) at the first sight of land. Going blind into a city was suicide. I found an abandoned shack this time, filled with old fishing gear, it looked like. Lia feel asleep almost immediately. As I finished settling her in, I looked down because my phone vibrated. It was Jacob.

"Jake- anything new?"

"Are you safe?" He asked anxiously.

"Yes, finally hit land. No one's around- do you have news for me?"

"Yep. We've got news alright. Alice has finally checked in. We weren't worried or anything, but it was weird."

"Isn't she always?"

"You know what I mean."

"Right, well, what'd she See?"

"She and Jasper are tracking right now, so she had to keep the call short. She wanted me to ask you about going when you went to the pub with Leah- was there a guy there who wanted to buy her a drink?"

"Oh geez. So much happened afterward that I can barely remember the guy's face."

"Right, right, I won't go there. But how about the bartender- you remember him?"

"Yes! He assumed Leah and I were together, asked if we had any kids. Leah got so upset."

"Oh right, shit wow! Leah told us. Understandable…"

"Well Alice saw him come to work in a noisy pub, start his shift, talk to that other guy who was approaching anything with a chest, and then her vision cut off...when you wanted to go out she assumed it was you two she saw."

"Right, and then what?"

Jacob sighed. "The day after they left Paris she got a flash of the same two guys burning."

"Burning? As in?"

"Yep- newborns on your tail. Except their creator's now been destroyed, thanks to you."

"Cole?" I couldn't believe it.

"Yes."

"But how did Cole find us in the first place? Was he tracking all of us in London? How would we have missed a vampire?" That'd be insane.

"Alice said Jasper thinks there was a comrade of Stefan and Vladimir's who happened to be in London when we arrived. He'd heard of him in his past life in the time of all his battles with Maria, but didn't know him well. He might have recruited Cole, but maybe not. His name is Jacques, and he spends most of his time keeping tabs on the Volturi from the protection of the Alps. It doesn't seem like the Volturi believe him to be enough of a threat, but he reports back to Stefan and Vladimir sometimes. A week ago, Alice was able to pick up his trail while they were looking out for any Volturi guard themselves. They never made it to the Lamborghini factory. They've managed to pick up tidbits of information that Jacques isn't troubling to keep quiet. They can't quite tell if he's purposely trying to lead them somewhere, or if he's carelessly underestimating Alice and Jasper. From the clues they got, it seems Cole was wrangled in by someone to help out, but they can't tell who exactly. Stefan and Vladimir have enough acquaintances, when they want them."

"But wouldn't Stefan and Vladimir still choose us against the Volturi? Have they decided we're an enemy as well?" I asked anxiously. I couldn't be too surprised. Wasn't everyone always against us?

"Jasper figured that they might be trying to separate us Wolves from the Cullens, figuring we're more closely related to the werewolves- (which are Caius' particular enemy, and probable allies of Stefan and Vladimir.) I don't think they trust the Cullens as much. We can't tell if they know about Wolf imprinting, but they know how it works for Lynxes… Catching a run-away Lia might have been a way to blackmail us, or perhaps they instructed Cole to simply keep her from escaping long enough to try to convince you to join up against the Lynxes. They couldn't have factored in Leah making a connection with Anica. We don't know how much they knew about all of our relationships. Maybe we're completely wrong. Alice couldn't talk long enough for us to debate the possibilities."

"Sounds complicated. Could it be someone else other than Jacques?"

Jake responded quickly, "Alice thinks Jacques was involved somehow. He knows too much, but there could be others, absolutely."

"Does Jacques know Fayina?"

"He's hasn't mentioned any names explicitly, so we don't know. But Fayina was probably supposed to meet someone in Norway before traveling to Amsterdam. That's the other news. Alin called me this morning- I gave Alexandru our phone numbers when he contacted me through the link. He's in Oslo, so he's staying human to blend in." Jake gave me his phone number. "Check in with him, especially if you need help getting into Oslo inconspicuously, but not too often. Alin almost always has someone stalking him, vampire and werewolf alike, since he's Alexandru's second in command. He's found traces of Fayina's scent in Oslo, but so far, there's no set pattern. He can't tell when she was there."

"That's too bad, but it sounds like a start. I'll talk to him myself before I sleep."

"Sounds good."

"How are you all holding up?" I asked.

"Most days it's pretty calm here except for the updates we get about the latest drama. The attack was the worst. I'm spending most of my time keeping Nessie occupied, but Bella and Edward take her running locally when you all need me. It's hell being away from her. Thank God I don't need to come see you all yet."

"Don't worry Jake; we won't pull you away from her."

"If you ever do, we'll have to figure out another safe location. The Cullens will back us up where ever I need to be."

"I'm sure. It'd be nice to have them meet the Lynxes too. The more allies, the better, really."

"Yeah, well not tonight. Get some rest- you've got a darling family member of your own to look after now. Although it sounds like she's a bit fiercer than Ness, so far at least."

"But I don't even want to think about who she might imprint on one day. She's so young! I'm so not ready for that. Oh God, do I really have to introduce her to the guys at some point? I think I have a better understanding of what Bella's going through now, even just being her brother. You better take care of Ness!"

"Oh come on, you know me…"

"Yes, but I'm not used to worrying about hugely under-aged young ladies. This is new to me. It's hit me hard."

"Would you rather not have a chance of witnessing your imprint's birth then?"

"That is if I even have one. And no, if it comes to that, but I can't imagine dealing with all the pain of loving her mother like you did- oh shit- you don't think I'll somehow imprint on Leah's daughter, do you?"

"Considering Leah's currently single, I doubt it. I doubt history repeats itself that closely. That'd be horrible irony, too weird, and just plain cruel."

"I agree."

"You still want Leah though?"

I considered for a millisecond. "Yep, I do."

"Well then I'm pulling for ya. Sam is too, ya know."

"I know, he told me himself."

"You guys both deserve good people."

"Thanks Jake. Right now I deserve some sleep."

I could hear Jake's smile in his voice. "Absolutely. Night Embry."

"Night, Alpha. And thanks, too you know, for everything."

"Sure."

I hung up the phone and walked over to where Lia was sleeping on a cot that seemed to be missing most of its stuffing. I lay down on the wood floor next to her and quickly fell asleep. Thankfully thoughts of Leah couldn't penetrate my exhaustion tonight. I was simply too tired.

**Poor Anica, huh? And all the Lynxes really. Tragedy, indeed. I was kind of wondering if I should have held this info back on Dariusz' identity, but then I figured in building a relationship between new allies, that wouldn't be something Anica would hold back. I think she might have if she could, but it's too important. And Embry and Lia are still on the hunt for Fayina, as it always gets more complicated! You knew you could count on Alice to See something even if it breaks off, and Jasper will keep her nice and protected, even though she doesn't need it. :P Let me know what you think! Thanks. **

**TE**


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